Starless Skies
by Amber85
Summary: Kíli and Tauriel have fought many battles in order to be with each other, have overcome many obstacles. Now that they are finally allowed a shot at happiness, they realize that maybe their greatest challenges still lie ahead of them. Sequel to my story "Only the Stars Were Watching." Rated M for mature content in some (but not all) chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's note**__: So, here it is, the sequel to my other story, "Only the Stars Were Watching." If you have not read that one, I suggest you read it before you start with this one, many things won't make sense otherwise since this is an AU fic that tells the story of Kíli and Tauriel beyond BOTFA._

_As the title might suggest, this is not going to be a happy fic - at least not at all times. The road that I have planned for Kíli and Tauriel will be a rocky one and I am pretty sure that some of you will hate me at some points, but I promise that amongst the angst and the emotional drama there will also be plenty of fluff and nice moments. _

_That being said, this first chapter is a pretty intense one. But I felt that I needed to start exactly at this point and map out one of the central conflicts of this story right away. I hope you enjoy it despite some of its darkness._

_Updates will most likely occur on Sundays, although there might be some stray chapters posted during the week if my writing process goes well._

_**Rating**__: M_

_**Disclaimer**__: The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings or any of it's characters do not belong to me._

* * *

><p><span><strong>Starless Skies<strong>

**Chapter I**

Tauriel watched as a multitude of shadows danced across her closed eyelids, creating patterns and shapes only to be disrupted again right away, every attempt at structure only lasting for a split second. She was dimly aware of the gentle breeze blowing across the lands, making the trees above her sway slightly, producing the flickering patterns she was currently so fascinated with. The sun was warming her skin pleasantly, making it easy to forget the hardships of winter.

She marveled at the fact that the mind would do such a thing, that it was not difficult at all to simply pretend that everything was fine once one had conquered the challenges that the harsher seasons posed. To pretend that one was safe and sound, even though, logically, one knew that winter would be back eventually. As would the dangers and the darkness that came with it.

Tauriel sighed inwardly, willing those other thoughts that her musings brought with them to go away and leave her in peace, to allow her not to worry at least for a little while. However, she soon found that her mind would not rest anymore, that the pleasant, dream-like lull she had been drifting in and out of before was now out of her reach.

Reluctantly opening her eyes, she turned her head to the side slightly to find Kíli lying next to her on his side, his head propped up on his elbow, his eyes fixed on her flat stomach.

Tauriel let her head fall back onto the soft, mossy ground in exasperation. "Stop that," she said, a trace of annoyance making its way into her voice. His eyes flickered from her abdomen to her face at that and she felt her throat tighten when she saw a lingering sadness in his gaze. He was hurting and it was her fault that he did. In her heart she wanted nothing more than to make that hurt go away and yet, every time she opened her mouth these days, it seemed to be only to brush him off, every time she reached out to him, she seemed to end up pushing him away instead. As she was doing now. "I do not know what you are expecting to see there anyway," she muttered, rolling onto her side, away from him.

Behind her she could sense him looking at her, words forming on his tongue that she half dreaded him to speak and half begged him to get out in the open, to force her to stop blocking him out. But he swallowed those words down, trying, as always, to be gentle with her, to not push her, when she so obviously signaled that she did not want to be pushed. "It will be dark soon," he said resignedly after a few seconds and she could hear him getting to his feet. "I will set up camp."

With every step that he took away from her, Tauriel felt her heart clench a little, but still she pursed her lips and maintained a stubborn silence. Oh, it had been so easy when the hobbit and the wizard had still been with them, Bilbo happily chatting away most of the time, making it difficult to find an opportunity to have this conversation that she knew they needed to have, that she sensed Kíli was anxiously waiting for ever since they had said their goodbyes to those they had left behind at Erebor. But time after time she had found ways and means to put it off a little longer, telling herself that she needed more time to gather her thoughts on what Dís had implied in her parting words.

_'Take good care of yourself, Tauriel. And of my grandchild.'_

However, as the weeks had passed, winter making way for spring, Tauriel had begun to convince herself that there was no truth to the dwarf woman's words, that there had merely been some kind of misunderstanding. Because, after all, she was feeling the same she always had, was she not? Surely she would feel different if she truly carried Dís' grandchild inside of her. Kíli's child. No, it could not be true indeed. She – a mother. Mother to the child of an elf and a dwarf. The mere thought was ludicrous. And so she had refused to allow that topic to be discussed, simply pretending it did not exist.

This had, however, become increasingly more difficult once their little company of four had parted ways outside of Imladris several days hence, Bilbo and Gandalf joining Elrond and his elves for an indefinite period of time while Kíli and Tauriel made their way south. And somehow, against her will, Tauriel had found herself forced to revert from distracting Kíli with smiles and affection, as she had done previously, to outright refusing to speak with him, turning her back when he, genuinely concerned for her and her well-being, had tried to approach her. And she despised herself for acting this way, despised herself for causing a rift between the two of them when, finally, they were allowed to be with each other, to be happy.

But as things were, she simply could not help herself. Her mind refused to accept any of those most recent developments in her life and even now, lying beneath the trees in the setting sun, she told herself that it was all nonsense, that it could not be true that a small life was growing inside of her.

As if in direct defiance of her thoughts, she felt a tiny flutter against the inside of her belly. Her hands raised themselves of their own volition to protectively cover her stomach and she whimpered in frustration when she became aware of what she was doing, forcing herself to drop her arms again immediately.

Sitting up, Tauriel pressed her palms to her temples, trying to stop the thoughts from whirling around inside of her head. She was not ready for this and she did not want to think about it anymore until she was. Not that she was sure she would ever be. Exhaling deeply, she looked up just in time to see Kíli glare at her before dropping a pile of wood at the bottom of the small hill she was still sitting on, whirling around to stomp towards her, a look of grim determination on his face.

She flinched slightly when he reached her, dropping to his knees right in front of her, pulling her hands away from her face. He brought his face quite close to hers as he leaned forward, his dark eyes locking onto hers in a burning gaze. Instinctively, Tauriel tried to pull away, surprised by the abruptness of his actions, but he would not let her move and instead yanked her a little closers still, his hands firmly wrapped around her wrists.

From the roughness of his touch, Tauriel expected him to sound angry when he spoke, but as he did his voice was merely filled with anguish and longing. "I am done," he said. "I am done watching you make yourself miserable. Stop pushing me away, Tauriel, when I am the only one who understands what it is you are going through. Have you ever stopped to think that you are not the only one out of the two of us who finds themselves quite overwhelmed by this whole situation?"

Despite the way his words touched her heart, Tauriel felt another cold remark form on her lips, but this time she swallowed it back down when he looked at her with such tenderness, his gaze burning its way through all the barriers she had so carefully constructed in and around herself. She searched inside of herself for any residues of anger, for a way and a reason to shut him out in order to prevent what, deep down, she knew was the truth from becoming real at last. But all she felt when she looked at him was a bottomless need to be held by him, to find comfort in the love that somewhere between here and Bard's house in Laketown where he had first touched her, shyly, lightly, had grown so unbelievably firm, so strong.

Surprising both Kíli and herself, she allowed her body to fall forward, pressing her face into the crook of his neck in an attempt to shut the world out for a moment, giving into what her heart was screaming at her for once. Shivering against him, she let out a shaky breath when she felt him wrap his arms around her body after a split second of hesitation, drawing her firmly against himself.

"I am sorry," she heard herself whisper, trying to keep the tears that she had been wanting to shed for so many days now at bay. From the rise of his chest she could tell that he was about to speak, but she quickly silenced whatever it was that he had been about to say by pressing her lips to his because she knew that if they started this discussion now, she would fall apart.

When she drew away, they stared at each other for a long moment and Tauriel thought that Kíli might still try to get her to talk, but instead he cupped her face in his palms and pulled her back towards him, kissing her deeply, hungrily.

Tauriel wondered how she could have been so foolish to make herself keep her distance to him, how she had survived even a day without feeling his skin beneath her fingers and her lips, without his taste on her tongue. Allowing herself to be completely enveloped by his touch, she found that right here in his arms she could find the escape from everything that had been troubling her – how had she not seen this?

Now that she was finally back in his arms it seemed that she could not get close enough to him and so she happily complied when he pulled her onto his lap, his hands sliding under the back of her tunic, pressing her even closer against him.

Eagerly Tauriel tugged at Kíli's clothing, succeeding in unlacing his shirt to reveal his broad chest. Her hands flew to her own bodice, but were stilled by his rough hands covering hers. He broke their kiss and she wanted to protest, to continue what they had started, but when he slipped his arms around her body once more and drew her against him, the comfort of his embrace made her lower her head to rest it on his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his neck. And just like that something inside her broke.

Kíli held her close as the tears rolled down her cheeks, silent sobs wrecking her body. He held her until long after her tears had stopped and her breathing had calmed, his hands slowly stroking her back. When she felt reasonably sure that she would not break down again right away, she pulled back, smiling at him a little sheepishly. "I'm sorry," she said again.

Kíli raised a hand to brush a strand of hair from her face. "There is no reason to be. I have seen you at your best and at your worst, remember?"

She shook her head. "No. I meant I am sorry for everything. The way that I behaved. I was wrong to push you away, you never gave me a reason to do so."

He smiled a little sadly at that and from the look in his eyes Tauriel realized how much she had actually hurt him, which made fresh tears burn in her eyes. It seemed that nowadays she constantly found herself on the verge of tears, something which she would have frowned upon in fellow elves a mere year ago.

Upon seeing her eyes well up again, Kíli pulled her closer, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Don't worry, my love. As long as I can hold you in my arms now, everything is fine. We have been through worse storms, have we not?"

Tauriel smiled a little at his sweet words. They had come so far. Maybe it was time for her to move on from that state of paralyzed shock she had found herself in those past few days and embrace this new stage of their life together. Even if that meant having to deal with the things that terrified her most. But not tonight. Tonight, all she wanted to do was curl up in Kíli's arms, absorb the heat of his skin into hers, hold him, breathe him in.

As if reading her thoughts, Kíli pressed a lingering kiss to her lips before gently pushing her off himself in order for him to be able to get up from the ground. "Let me finish building that fire. Then we can rest," he said, nodding towards the pile of wood he had dropped earlier. Tauriel wanted to protest, wanted to stay where they were right now, but she also saw the reason in his words. The nights could still be quite cold, the warmth of the sun during the day often treacherous. So she watched a little wistfully as he put his clothes back in order, retying the lacing of his shirt. He caught her gaze and winked at her. "By all means, feel free to take them off of me again later." She blushed a little and laughed lightly, marveling at the way he could go from serious to playful in a matter of seconds.

As she followed him down to where he had begun to set up their camp for the night and watched him trying to light the fire, his face concentrated and his stance tense, she thought that despite the appearances he might attempt at, he, too, was worried and more than just a little scared by this new development in their shared life, by this new factor that might decide their future. And she swore to herself that, even if she was not ready to confront her fears yet, she would not shut him out anymore. They would see this through together, as they had done when they had escaped from Thranduil's halls, as they had done when Thorin had tried to find a way to tear them apart. In the end, it had all turned out well, hadn't it? So she would simply have to hope that this time it would be the same. Even if, right now, she was unable to see beyond the darkness that seemed to threaten to overtake her at every step she took.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's note: Thank you all for your feedback! I'm so glad you all enjoyed the first chapter. Here's the next one, from Kíli's POV - I think it will explain some of the things that the last chapter left unclear._

_One word on research: I always try my best to get the facts about Elves, Dwarves and other inhabitants of Middle Earth right, but I am no Tolkien expert. So I apologize for any mistakes that I might make along the way. Also, the circumstances of Tauriel's condition might seem a little off to some of you right now, but I promise to address all that at some point. I do have a plan ;)_

_Enough rambling, enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit._

**Chapter II**

Sleeping outside, exposed to the elements, had a great many disadvantages. The ground, no matter how soft the grass covering it, could never be as comfortable as a proper bed and you would always wake up to a slight pain in your neck and back or find that one or several limbs have gone dead from lying in the wrong position for too long. Your clothes would feel slightly damp from the morning dew or, worse, be soaked completely after a rainy night. The chirping of the birds in the early hours of the morning, while quite enjoyable if you only heard it from time to time, would begin to get on your nerves eventually, robbing you of your sleep when mind and body were telling you that it was still much too early to rise. Not even to speak of the various bugs and spiders that you would frequently have to contend with. All in all it could be a very tiresome business compared to having a roof over your head and soft, clean, dry (!) bedding to curl up in.

What Kíli would never tire of, however, was lying under the wide sky in the wee hours of the morning, waiting for the first rays of sunlight to creep across the lands, watching the golden and auburn reflections they would create in Tauriel's hair once they reached the pair of them, marveling every morning at the way the break of day seemed to light a fire inside of her, making her come alive together with the world around them.

Although, lately, he had to admit that she sometimes looked tired and weary in those moments he treasured so much, a slight hint of dark shadows under her eyes. And this despite the fact that she had taken to actually sleeping on a much more regular basis than when he had first met her. Aside from the days that she had withdrawn into her dream world with the help of that devious little Elvish tincture, obviously.

Now, as he watched the light of the morning sun illuminate Tauriel's face, causing her to scrunch up her nose in the most adorable way and roll onto her side, burying her face in his chest, he could not help but wonder whether those changes in her might be the result of her possibly changed condition. Not that he knew much about childbearing in the first place. He knew how children were conceived – obviously – but that was just about where his knowledge of the whole matter ended. But, given the fact that he could not remember ever having seen a dwarven woman that was with child, he supposed that during that stage they had to be somewhat fragile, resulting in them being protected from the turmoil of day to day life.

Whether that served as an explanation for the fatigued state he often found Tauriel in recently, he could not really say. While his knowledge about procreation amongst dwarves was limited, it was really nonexistent when it came to Elves. He had never even seen an Elven child, despite the fact that he had recently – and not exactly of his own will - spent quite some time in two major Elven dwellings – Rivendell and the Halls of Thranduil. So, in summary, he barely knew anything about Tauriel's condition, all he had were some very vague speculations.

Mahal, he would never even have thought that Elves and Dwarves were able to conceive children together in the first place. Any yet, when his mother had said those parting words to Tauriel, he had known immediately that it was true. He had _felt_ it in his heart. And somewhere, deep inside of him, he was convinced that Tauriel had felt it, too. Which was why it worried him even more that she had rapidly transgressed into a state of denial, never allowed for the topic to be discussed.

He had seen through her act all the while, had always been aware of her diversions when they were still with Bilbo and later also Gandalf. Had known that when she demanded to, once again, hear Bilbo's story of how he had come face to face with the dragon, that she really only wanted to fill the long, cold evenings that might otherwise have provided ample opportunity to talk about what was happening to them, what was happening to _her_. When she would draw him away in the middle of the night to make love to her under the cold, often starless skies, he had known that she was trying to take both of their minds off the matter at hand, was desperately trying to make him – and herself - forget about everything during the heights of their desire for one another. And sometimes she had succeeded in this, but come morning he had always been back to worriedly watching her go about her business as if everything was as it always had been.

But he had allowed her to continue like this for as long as they were with the hobbit and the wizard, telling himself that once they were alone, they would talk, find a way to work this out. What he had not expected, however, was for her to go as far as to turn away from him when that time came, to deliberately try to keep him at a distance, get him to leave her alone. And this had hurt. Badly. And while he knew that she loved him fiercely despite the way she acted towards him, a little voice at the back of his mind had begun nagging him, asking whether maybe this was not how she had pictured their life together, whether she was regretting the choice that she had made.

Then, finally, he had gotten through to her the night before, had seen her resolution and her denial crumble before his eyes, had seen what he had known all along, namely that she was terrified by what was happening to her, to them. But he had also seen that she was still not ready to discuss their situation and so he had let the matter rest once again despite the fact that it was killing him not to know how she was feeling, not to be able to discuss everything with her. Because he needed to if he was going to protect her, keep her safe from harm. And he needed her, too, to finally acknowledge the life that was growing inside of her, needed to know that she would not put herself or their child in any unnecessary danger.

Kíli lightly wrapped his arms around Tauriel who was still curled up against him, his heart beating wildly in his chest as it always did when he actually thought those words. Their child. He had no idea whether he was ready to be a father. Probably not, given his current choice of lifestyle. But for that child and for Tauriel he would do anything, go to the greatest lengths to ensure their well-being. And while his mind would often tell him that something like this was not supposed to happen, that it was not right for Dwarves and Elves to have children together, in his heart he knew that no result of the love between him and Tauriel could ever be wrong. And he hoped that someday soon, Tauriel would allow him to convince her of the truth of that because he was sure that, putting aside any other thoughts that she might have about that matter, her fear that they had created something that was not meant to be was very prominent.

He would wait. What he had said the night before had been true - as long as she let him be with her without restraint, he found it much easier to handle this situation. And from the way she had touched him the night before, had allowed him to be with her without inhibitions, and the way she was pressed against him now, it seemed that she was truly done pushing him away. He would just have to be particularly watchful, make sure that nothing happened to her until she found the strength to confront the matter herself.

He smiled when he felt her stir in his arms, craning her neck to softly kiss the base of his throat. "I can hear you thinking," she said sleepily.

"I am quite certain that this is impossible, despite the way you sometimes seem to read my mind," he replied, the smile on his face widening.

Pushing herself off the ground slightly, Tauriel propped her head up on one arm, looking down at him. "That may be true. But I am sure that if I could, the noise of all the things passing through your head would rob me of my sleep."

She had said it lightly, her manner teasing. But her face grew more serious as Kíli gazed back at her, wondering how he should respond to this, whether he should tell her, that yes, his thoughts had been running wild for a while now, and his heart was heavy with concern for her. Trying to shake off some of his worry, he attempted a grin and shrugged. "Got a lot on my mind, 's all."

From the way she looked at him for a long, silent moment, the way her lower lip trembled ever so slightly, he could tell that she actually tried to bring herself to say some of the things he had been waiting for her to say for a long time now. But in the end she faltered, averting her gaze when she said, "Have you put any more thought into how we are going to go about the next step of this journey?"

He forced a small smile, telling himself that she just needed a little more time. "We should prepare ourselves for an encounter with the Rangers any day now. At least if what Gandalf said is true and they have not moved out of the Angle as of yet. When that happens, I suppose we will talk to them, tell them what has happened on the other side of the Misty Mountains and see how they react. I cannot come up with a better plan right now."

"Have you ever met one of their kind? A Dúnedain of the North?" Tauriel asked as she sat up, her face lighting up with that open, natural curiosity that Kíli loved so much about her. In light of the intimidating number of years that she had walked this earth already, he would often forget that she had never really left Thranduil's halls and the forest surrounding them. Not until she had met him.

"I did see one from time to time on my own travels," he said. "They do not exactly make for entertaining company though. Grim fellows, most of them. But they are extremely skilled in everything that they do, hunting, tracking, fighting. Once, I remember, me, my brother and some others were attacked by a band of orcs north of Bree. To this day, I have no idea what they were doing there. Anyhow, we were fighting them off – and, mind you, would have succeeded in doing so either way – when in swoops this Ranger, striking them down within a matter of minutes."

He paused and smiled at the way that Tauriel was looking at him, eager for more stories. He had missed those moments with her in the most recent past. "And?" she demanded, quirking an impatient eyebrow.

He shrugged. "And nothing, really. We offered our thanks to him afterwards, would gladly have given him some of the goods we were carrying. Nice things, excellent craftsmanship. But he would have none of it, simply disappeared without even really speaking to us."

If Tauriel was vaguely disappointed at the anticlimactic turn in his narration, she did not show it. Looking into the direction where they supposed they might come across a camp of the Rangers, if not a permanent settlement, where they were hoping they would find some kind of a leader of their kind, she frowned. "That causes me to think that it will not be very easy to win them over as allies. After all they do not seem to be particularly interested in treasures or other goods that your kind is trading in."

Kíli sat up, too, and followed her gaze. "You could be right. However, there might be other ways to convince them that an alliance with the Dwarves could be beneficial for them. That depends on the kind of life that they lead here, and I do not really know anything of that. Yet. That is why we are here."

Tauriel nodded. "From what you told me, I can clearly see why Gandalf insisted that it is of great importance to go and speak to them. They seem to be great warriors and might be of crucial importance at some point in the future."

She shuddered slightly, causing Kíli to scoot over and wrap an arm around her shoulder. He could understand her uneasiness. In the days that they had spent in Gandalf's company he had more than once given them to understand that the defeat of the dragon and the enemy's armies was not the end of evil in this world. Not by far. And while the wizard had always remained guarded when it came to what it was precisely that he feared, the urgency with which he had spoken to both of them had left them without a doubt that those were more than the ramblings of an old man. Also, he had taken great pains to assure them that the task they had set for themselves was of utmost importance, that the peoples of Middle Earth could not be allowed to live in isolation from and in ignorance of one another if they wanted to stand a chance at survival. And for some reason, Gandalf seemed to firmly believe that the two of them, together, would be able to give them this chance – something Kíli had always found comfort in during those dark hours when his restless mind tried to conquer his heart once again and tried to cast doubt about whether they were headed down the right path.

And so here they were, scouting the lands for the elusive Rangers of the North. While they had had plenty of time with the wizard, who had joined them earlier than expected during their journey west, Kíli was beginning to feel that it had not been enough, that he should have tried to gather more information about the descendants of the Dúnedain before they had parted with Gandalf and Bilbo. He was many things, but a skilled ambassador was not among them.

During their journey they had never really discussed what exactly would happen when they reached the other side of the Misty Mountains, but once they found themselves just outside of Rivendell, Kíli and Tauriel had suddenly realized that this was where their path diverged from that of the wizard and the hobbit. Kíli had seen conflicting emotions pass over Tauriel's face, the desire to see Rivendell and surround herself with some Elven customs for a while struggling against the many fears that the prospect of an encounter with other Elves had to stir in her. Kíli couldn't know for sure, but he assumed that subconsciously her fear of how her kin might react when they found out about the existence of the child inside her - which even she herself was still denying – were what had made her rise one morning and announce to Bilbo and Gandalf that they were going leave them to head south that day, greatly surprising the wizard and the hobbit. Kíli, on the other hand, had not hesitated to begin gathering their things. He had no desire to see Rivendell or its unsettlingly stoic inhabitants again.

Now, without the valuable advice of the wizard, he could only hope that somehow they would be successful in this first part of their task. That he would not have to disappoint Gandalf, who had such high expectations in him. Or Thorin, who, despite everything, still occupied a spot in his heart, a spot that would often hurt, but was healing ever so slowly.

Noticing the way that the sun warmed his back, Kíli realized that they had been sitting there together for quite a while now. He jumped up, offering a hand to Tauriel, and tried to shake off some of his doubts and worries, telling himself that this might just be the day when things would begin to look a little brighter once again. And if it was, he did not want to let it go by idly.

"Come," he said, pulling her up. "Let us go and find out if we are really as close to the Rangers as I suspect we might be."

Tauriel smiled in agreement, but hesitated, looking slightly embarrassed for a second. Kíli stopped in his tracks, wondering if he had done something wrong. "What is it?" he asked.

She cast her eyes down. "It's just…," she smiled shyly. "Can we have breakfast first? I believe I really need to eat something."

Kíli suppressed a smile at that, wondering if this was a sign of her acknowledging that she had not just herself to look out for anymore, but someone else, too. Another life. He tried not to sound too eager when he replied, "Right, of course. As a matter of fact, I am starving myself."

As he said that, he realized that it was actually true and he _was_ very hungry. That was when he remembered that they had not eaten the night before, too consumed by their emotions and he wanted to hit himself – had he not sworn to himself that he would take care of her, no matter what? This had to change. Thorin, Gandalf, the rest of the world – they could wait for a little while longer.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note: Thank you so much for your feedback. Currently I'm having a hard time writing this story, not so much because I'm out of ideas, but because I am so awfully busy :-/ I hope to be able to keep updating weekly, but if not I apologize in advance. If I could, I would spend all of my time writing. This one is a bit of a filler chapter, but I hope you like it nevertheless (at least it's rather fluffy)._

_Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit._

**Chapter III**

"Can you see anything from up there?" Tauriel heard Kíli's voice drift up to where she was perched on the branch of a large tree, overlooking the lands around them.

She leaned forward a little, looking down in order to catch his gaze and felt the corners of her mouth turn upwards in a teasing smile. "I see many things from up here. Maybe you should join me."

She saw him roll his eyes, not annoyed, but clearly a little unnerved by the several yards that separated her from the ground. "Thank you, but I am quite happy to stay where I am," he mumbled, well aware that her keen ears would catch his low voice. "If you have seen enough, come back down, would you?"

Tauriel suppressed a smile and debated whether she should surprise him by dropping down right in front of him. But something in his voice and his eyes as he craned his head to get a look at her made her reconsider this and she chose a more controlled descent, lowering herself to the ground carefully and slowly.

"I do not lose my balance that easily, you know," she said nevertheless, needing him to understand that she was more than capable of taking care of herself, no matter what her most recent state of mind might have indicated.

"I know, I know," Kíli muttered, averting his gaze. "I'm merely trying to look out for you."

"I am aware of that," she said quickly, reaching out to squeeze his hand. "And I am grateful for it." And she really was – even though it was clear that when he said 'you' he meant that as in plural 'you.' Only a few days ago, this would have caused her to panic, would have made her try to put some distance between them. While she still could not bring herself to actually speak of this matter aloud, it did not make her want to run away anymore whenever Kíli alluded to it in some way.

Now Kíli looked back at her, not letting go of her hand. The softness in his eyes nearly made her say something else, but she held herself back, her heart jumping into her throat all of a sudden. "There is no sign of a settlement of any kind in sight," she said instead, her voice a little husky. She cleared her throat. "Just the river to the East and mostly open land, some trees, some smaller hills, to the West."

Kíli continued to look at her for a few seconds before speaking. "How far do you think before we reach the southern boundary of the Angle?"

Tauriel gave a small shrug. "Another few days' journey, I believe. Four, at the most."

He frowned. "I would have thought that we had come across some sign of the Rangers by now," he said.

Tauriel smiled, reaching out to smooth the lines of worry forming on his forehead. "Maybe they are as good at hiding their own tracks as they are at finding those of others," she quipped.

He huffed, a lopsided smile on his face. "Probably." Walking around her he came to stand at the edge of the small, wooded hill they currently found themselves on, overlooking the river Bruinen. "What next?" he asked, uncertainty carrying in his voice. "Do we continue south or do we turn west?"

"We should keep going south, I believe," she replied. Looking down at the river, her face lit up when she noticed a small pool that had formed on the western bank, and area of a couple yards in width where the water seemed reasonably shallow and which the steady current of the main river did not seem to touch. Looking back at Kíli, she saw him looking down at the same spot, clearly lost in thought. "Since we do not seem to be anywhere near reaching our goal today, would you care to join me for a bath?" she asked, a mischievous grin on her face.

"What, here?" he asked in return, surprised. "I'm not sure if it is such a good idea, since we have no way of knowing… Tauriel, wait!"

But she was already making her way down the small but steep slope, her step secure. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled when she saw Kíli throw up his hands in defeat and follow her, his descent considerably less elegant than hers.

Uttering what were obviously a few Khuzdul curses under his breath, he approached her from behind once he had reached the bottom of the slope. "Were you listening to me at all? I really do not believe we should-"

He broke off in mid-sentence when she untied the broad leather-belt she was wearing and tossed it to the side, quickly proceeding to shrug out of her knee-length, green dress underneath, letting it pool around her feet. Stepping out of her boots and leggings, she again cast a look at him over her shoulder, her lips curling in delight at his utterly stunned expression.

"So, what will it be?" she asked, teasingly, taking a first careful step into the water without taking her gaze off him. Her body responded with the most delicious, anticipatory tingle as she watched his eyes darken with desire.

"In Mahal's name…," he growled, but nevertheless proceeded to strip himself of his own clothing, suddenly in quite a hurry to join her.

Smiling in satisfaction, Tauriel took another few steps into the water, enjoying its refreshing coolness as it enveloped her body. She waded deeper into the small pool until the water came to just about her hips and held out her arms, resting her palms against the smooth surface of the water. Closing her eyes, all she heard was the roar of the river ahead of them and the singing of the birds in the trees. The sun gently warmed the bare skin of her upper body, creating the most interesting contrast to the coldness of the water pooling around her legs.

Peace. Despite the calmness and uneventfulness of the days that lay behind them, she had quite forgotten what it felt like to truly be at peace with yourself and the world around you.

She sighed contentedly when Kíli came up behind her and reached out to draw her against his firm, broad chest. With one of his hands he brushed her long hair aside, kissing the skin of her shoulder beneath. In the position they were standing in now, his head came to just below her neck and when he stepped a little closer still, she could feel his hardness pressing against the back of her upper thigh, causing her to reflexively rock her hips back against him.

His responding low groan made her shiver with desire and when his right hand sneaked up to gently cup one of her breasts, running a calloused thumb across its already hardened peak, she felt her knees tremble slightly, her toes curling to dig into the sandy ground below the water.

She desperately wanted to turn around and crush her lips against his, wrap her arms around him, but the little jolts of pleasure caused by the painfully slow, southward path that his hand was beginning to follow, made her stay in place and she let her head fall back with a small moan, her eyes closed.

A few moments later, however, she opened her eyes again when his movements stilled. She felt rather than heard him draw a nervous breath before he splayed his fingers over her stomach, gently pressing his palm against her smooth skin. Involuntarily, she stiffened a little at that, which he felt of course, and made to withdraw his hand.

She surprised herself quite a bit by quickly raising her own hand and covering his, keeping it firmly in place. Looking down at where their joined hands covered her stomach, she admitted to herself that – maybe and only if you looked very closely – you could detect the hint of a rounding there. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest at that thought, only this time not from fear, but from a bewildering sense of happiness, brought about by the warmth that she could feel radiating from deep within herself in response to the touch of his hand against the bare skin of her belly.

She wondered if she would be able to put her feelings in this very moment into words, if there was a way how she could let Kíli know what was happening inside of her right now. But she hardly dared to draw a breath, afraid to break this intense, unexpected moment between them.

But from the way that she could feel Kíli's own heart hammer in his chest where it was pressed against her back, she knew that he felt the same and that there were no words needed. Not right now. He leaned his forehead against her spine, exhaling a shaky breath, some of the tension leaving his body.

They stayed like that for a long moment, seeking comfort in each other, calming their hearts, calming their minds. Then Tauriel slowly turned around, still holding Kíli's hand in place against her stomach. He looked at her, his expression one of amazement and wonder and she could not help but smile, telling him without words, that yes, right now she was perfectly fine with him touching her like this, sharing her burden.

The smile he returned was bright and he lifted his other hand to cup her cheek, gently drawing her down to brush a kiss against her lips. Their lips had barely touched, when they were both startled by a deep, gravelly voice cutting through the air.

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><p>Kíli spun around upon hearing someone speak up behind them, adrenaline rushing through his body. <em>This<em> was precisely why he had tried to stop Tauriel from her plan, but she had not been willing to listen and he had been persuaded all too eagerly. And now here they were, separated from their weapons by several feet of water, and not even a scrap of clothing to cover themselves with.

He tried his best to shield Tauriel with his own body, reaching behind himself to pull her close, as his startled eyes fell upon a tall, lean figure reclining in the grass above them.

"I have travelled far and wide and would have thought I had seen many a strange thing. A dwarf and an elf, going for a swim together, is however quite puzzling to behold. And pretty amusing, I might add," the stranger said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

A Ranger, Kíli realized, with a nervous jolt of excitement. He wore the telltale green coat that he had also seen on other members of his kin. His shaggy hair was of a chestnut brown and a short beard of the same color covered his wide, angular jaw. Kíli noted no real animosity in his sharp gaze, but equal shares of callousness and shrewdness instead.

Kíli swallowed under the stranger's scrutiny, wondering what would be the best way to answer him that would not to ruin any chance of their negotiations being successful. If there even was such a way considering the odd and more than slightly embarrassing circumstances of their encounter. Ah, how he wished for Fíli to be there. Well, maybe not _right_ there with them, because that would be even more awkward. No, he wished his brother were there to guide him, to lead the way. For a dwarf, whose stubbornness usually outweighed their negotiating skills, Fíli had always had a way of knowing what words to use with whom in order to not give unwanted insult and keep everyone happy. Not like Kíli himself, who wore his heart on his sleeve. Which often resulted in interesting situations – such as confessing his romantic feelings to the elf-maid currently pressed against his backside while he was barely conscious.

This time, Kíli was spared from getting himself in more trouble than he was already in by said elf-maid speaking up behind him. "We are glad to have provided some amusement to you, sir," she said, her voice betraying not a trace of discomfort. Below the water, Kíli could however feel her fingernails dig into the skin of his arms. She, too, did not underestimate the threat that the stranger might pose. "If you would be so kind and allow us some privacy to make ourselves decent once more, we will be happy to explain to you the reasons for us being here."

Well done, Tauriel, Kíli thought proudly, trying to make him give us some space and signal that we would like to talk at the same time.

The Ranger did not reply immediately and looked at Tauriel before shifting his gaze to Kíli and then back at her again. When he answered her, he did not use the common tongue, but something that to Kíli sounded a lot like the Elvish tongue he had heard frequently on his travels. This surprised him – he could not remember Gandalf mentioning that the Dúnedain would be skilled in Sindarin.

From her split second of hesitation, Kíli judged that Tauriel, too, had not expected this. Her reply sounded slightly angered, but what she said, Kíli could not tell. All he understood was his own name as well as hers, so he assumed that the part where they would introduce themselves had already been taken care of.

When she was done speaking, the brown haired Ranger threw a quick, surprised glance at Kíli, before pulling up one corner of his mouth in a smirk. "Right," he said. "Meet me where you so carelessly left the remainder of your things once you have put some clothes on. I have to admit I am a little intrigued to hear this story of yours."

With those words he disappeared up the grassy hill and out of sight. Kíli spared about two seconds to make sure that he was not coming back, before grasping Tauriel's wrist, pulling her out of the water with him.

Reaching the water's edge, he stepped onto the sandy ground and quickly handed her her clothes before gathering his own. When he had finally managed to struggle into his pants – not so easy when your skin is still wet – he noticed that Tauriel had not moved at all and stood there clutching her bundle of clothes to her chest.

"Get dressed," he said a little more sharply than he intended to, eager to avoid another all too revealing encounter with the Ranger.

She bit her lip. "You are angry with me. For bringing us into this situation."

He frowned and paused in his movements before turning around to smile at her. "Trust me, I have done much more foolish things in my life, that have brought me a lot more trouble. Compared to those, this is just a slight… inconvenience."

When she still did not move, he walked over to her and reached up to cup her face firmly in his hands. "I jumped in right behind you, didn't I? How could I not have, with the sight of you before my eyes."

When she blushed a little he grinned and leaned up to press a kiss to her lips, wishing very much to continue where they had been interrupted before, but tearing himself away before his heart or his body could get any ideas. "Now put some clothes on before I forget myself," he half whispered, his gaze darkening with desire.

This time she obliged, but not before leaning down to capture his lips in another, slightly longer kiss. As he waited for her to finish getting dressed, he nervously watched the treeline above them, wondering how that talk with their latest acquaintance would turn out.

Looking back at Tauriel he saw that she was busy trying to hastily rearrange her hair. Smiling when he saw her frown in frustration he went over to her. "Sit down," he said and gestured towards the ground when she raised her eyebrows questioningly. She hesitated but obliged and he surprised her by grasping a few strands of her hair that had come loose and tying them into a delicate braid running along the side of her head. This was something his hands had been itching to do for a long time and now he wondered why he had not done it sooner and in a moment where they were not in a hurry, where he could savor the feeling of being allowed to run his fingers through her long, silky tresses.

When he was done she reached up with one hand and gingerly touched the braid he had made. She looked at him in utter surprise. "How come I did not know that you could do this?" she asked.

He shrugged and grinned at her. "Have you looked at other dwarves? Just because I prefer not to bother with that kind of thing does not mean I do not know how to do it. In fact, this counts as quite the accomplishment among my kin."

She returned his grin and reached up to pull his lips down to hers. "Something where your people and mine are quite similar."

"Though I'm sure neither would like to hear it," Kíli replied with a low chuckle.

Smiling at each other for another moment, Kíli was the one to tear his gaze away, once more looking up the small hill they had descended not too long ago. "What did he say to you, before?" he asked, nodding his head into the direction that the Ranger had disappeared into.

Tauriel looked slightly uncomfortable. "He demanded to know our names and where we come from. I told him my name and that you were a rightful heir of Durin."

Kíli nodded. That much he had understood. „And?" he asked, knowing that this could not have been what had made her sound angered when she had spoken to the Ranger.

She sighed. "Not much else than what was to be expected, really."

Kíli gave a slight huff, his suspicions that the Ranger had somehow referred to her and him in a disgraceful manner affirmed. "Then I suppose I do not really care to know," he said, reaching out to take her hand in his. "Not as long as I am still required to behave civilly towards him."

Tauriel squeezed his hand before letting go to pick up her belt off the ground. Tying it around her waist she pushed herself into an upright position. "Let us go find out what information he can give us."

"Or rather which he is _willing_ to give us," Kíli grumbled, earning an affectionate grin from his Elven lover. "By the way," he added as they made their way up the small hill side by side, "we really need to work on that thing were we are being watched in more than slightly compromising situations without even realizing it. Happens a little too often for my taste."

"You do not say," Tauriel mumbled, her cheeks turning slightly pink as she reached out to help him climb the last few steps of the grassy slope.


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's note: I'm so sorry for the delay! This chapter was a little difficult to write, but slowly but surely I have my characters where I want them to be, so I think the next few chapters should not cause too much trouble. Hope you enjoy, despite the long wait._

_Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit or any of its characters._

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><p><strong><span>Chapter IV<span>**

"So," the Ranger, who had made good use of the time Kíli and Tauriel had taken to get dressed and had built a fire over which he was currently roasting what looked to be a rabbit, drawled. "An heir of Durin. Things have been quiet when it comes to your line. Last I heard where rumors of- your grandfather, I suppose? -wandering the lands, not quite right in his mind."

Kíli did not answer immediately and took the piece of meat that the Ranger offered him, sitting down on the other side of the small campfire. Tauriel reciprocated his gesture, although Kíli watched her eye the meat suspiciously from the corner of his eye. "I believe that might change soon," he finally said in reply to the Ranger's words. Biting into the meat, he took great care to sound matter-of-factly when he continued. "The Dwarves of my line have reclaimed Erebor. My uncle Thorin now rules as King under the Mountain."

If the Ranger was surprised by this, he did not let it on. "So it is true what I have heard whispered at Bree. The dragon has been unleashed and defeated subsequently. Taking many innocent lives in the process, I assume."

Kíli tried not to wince at that, remembering the destruction that Smaug had brought upon the people of Laketown, remembering fire, remembering death. Even though, strictly speaking, he himself had not been among those who had allowed the dragon to escape the Lonely Mountain and had instead been one of the few who had escaped the dragon's wreath by a mere inch and had even personally aided in the destruction of the beast, he felt the need to justify himself. But Tauriel beat him to it.

"It is true indeed," she spoke lowly, the flames of the small campfire reflecting in her eyes as she stared into it, causing a shiver to run down Kíli's spine. They rarely spoke of those days at Laketown, but the terrors were still lodged deeply in their souls. "But that is not all," she continued, tearing her gaze away from the fire. "Things did not end with the defeat of the dragon. There was battle at the foot of the mountain of Erebor. A battle of a size which this world has not seen for a long time…"

She went on to recount some of the circumstances leading up to the battle and Kíli found himself listening to her talk, completely mesmerized by her voice, almost forgetting that he had fought in that battle himself while she, in fact, had not. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he suppressed a smile when he realized that she seemed to have a similar effect upon their companion who was staring at her intently.

"My people could not fight this battle on their own," Kíli added when Tauriel was done speaking, drawing the Ranger's attention back to him. "So they joined forces with the people of Laketown and the wood elves under Thranduil's reign."

The Ranger's eyebrows shot up in surprise. So far, Kíli had found it difficult to judge how much he knew of the history of the Dwarves of Erebor, but his reaction betrayed at least some knowledge. "Yes, I know. No one would have thought that possible not too long ago." At this he exchanged a small smile with Tauriel, remembering the circumstances of their first encounter in the forest.

The Ranger watched their exchange with curiosity. "If what you say is true, then what are the two of you doing out here, so far from your homes? What made you leave so shortly after restoring Erebor to some of its former glory?"

Kíli looked into the fire once more, sensing suspicion in the Ranger's words. "The reasons why we left and why we are here are two separate things, I'm afraid. We have come because there are many who believe that the great battle we spoke of was by far not the last one and that all peoples of Middle Earth should prepare for a darkness that is gathering in strength."

The man narrowed his eyes at both of them. "Who sent you?" he asked, sounding slightly agitated all of a sudden.

Kíli thought it best to simply tell the truth – it would do them no good if they started this conversation with a lie. And who knew, maybe their source would even lend them more credibility in the eyes of the Ranger. "Gandalf, the grey wizard."

"You might also know him as Mithrandir," Tauriel added when the Ranger did not show any sign of recognition.

"Yes, I know who you speak of," he replied, frowning. "I simply cannot fathom why he would send you here of all places."

Kíli shot a glance at Tauriel who gave a small shrug. Turning back to the Ranger, he spoke. "Gandalf seems to believe that your people will factor greatly in whatever battles we might have to fight in the future. That your people should seek alliances beyond the borders of Eriador, as should the Dwarves of Erebor and the Elves of Mirkwood. He believes that, eventually, none of us can stand on our own. And so do we."

The Ranger looked at him for a long moment, before turning his gaze towards the fire. "There is not much that we can offer in an alliance," he said, sounding slightly haunted. "We are but few, and those that there are, are scattered across the lands, with not much to unite us anymore. I find it hard to believe that my people would come together to stand against a threat that does not even have a name."

"So you are on your own?" Kíli asked, feeling his hope that their encounter with this one Ranger might lead to the discovery of a whole settlement of the Rangers of the North dwindle. Now, more than ever, he was curious to meet others of his kin, to see how they lived and find out what it was about them that made Gandalf so certain that the Rangers were the ones they should pay most attention to in their quest.

Their companion frowned at him, obviously in an attempt to determine whether he could trust him and Tauriel. They must have passed the test because he sighed and replied, "No, not quite. We have a small camp a few miles from here. Merely a few men and their families."

"Can you speak for those people of yours?" Kili asked.

This was met with a chuckle of the Ranger. "They can speak for themselves, I believe."

Tauriel jumped in. "Then do you not have a leader? A king?"

The Ranger frowned once more. "As I said before, we do not have much to unite us these days," he said vaguely.

Kíli exchanged a glance with Tauriel, confused by the sudden secretiveness. While the Ranger seemed neither hostile nor disinterested it did not look as if he would be helping them after all.

Looking back at the Ranger, he found him staring back at him intently, making Kíli a tiny bit nervous. "So the two of you," he finally said, gesturing between him and Tauriel, "came here because you are ambassadors of your respective people?"

Surprised by the sudden change in topic, Kíli hesitated. Also, he did not really know how to answer this question. "Well, maybe not exactly ambassadors…" he said, looking to Tauriel for help, but she merely bit her lip and looked down.

When Kíli did not continue, the Ranger spoke up again, not taking his eyes off of him. "Outcasts, then?"

Kíli opened his mouth to answer, but closed it again, still not knowing what to answer in order to not give the wrong impression.

"A little bit of both, maybe," Tauriel suddenly said in a very low voice.

Upon hearing the remnants of an old sadness in her voice, Kíli instinctively scooted a little closer to her, but restrained himself from reaching out to touch her. Instead he looked back at the Ranger. "We are merely trying to help our peoples' cause - in our own way."

The Ranger nodded to himself and then got up, moving to extinguish the fire.

"What are you doing?" Kíli asked.

"I am taking you to my people," the Ranger answered. "I do not promise that anything will come of it and I am not even sure whether I wish that it does, but I will give you this chance to speak to the other men and tell them what you just told me."

Completely surprised by this sudden turn of events, Kíli and Tauriel hurried to gather their things. "Thank you for your trust," Kíli, stopping in his tracks, said to their companion who was waiting for them to get ready.

He inclined his head. "I know a thing or two about being out there on your own. Sometimes you have to rely on some stranger's kindness."

"In that case, may I ask for that stranger's name?" Kíli said, realizing only now that he did not even know how the Ranger was called.

"That seems only fair," he replied, "since I know yours, too. Fendir is what they call me."

Kíli bowed his head. "Again, thank you for doing this for us, Fendir. You are doing us a great favor."

Fendir nodded and looked over Kíli's shoulder at Tauriel. "Are you prepared to leave?"

"We will be right behind you," she replied, handing Kíli the last of his things. Taking them from her, he briefly squeezed her hand before turning around to follow their new acquaintance who was leading them away from the river at a brisk pace.

* * *

><p>Leaning back against the table behind him, Kíli took a long drag from the pipe he had been so generously supplied with, smiling to himself. This was not the worst of all places they could have come to. Hearing Fendir speak of his people with such reluctance, Kíli had expected to find them living a grim life, devoid of all pleasures. Upon reaching the small settlement, they had however found that it was a relatively warm and cheerful place, a curious mixture of permanent structures such as small, wooden buildings and other, less permanent, tent-like shelters. The whole camp exuded an air of settling down and being on the move at the same time, a feeling that Kíli could relate to quite well.<p>

On their arrival, they had learned that several of the men had departed earlier that same day to look for a pack of orcs that was rumored to have been spotted west, which was why the camp was currently mostly populated by women and children. Between the three of them, Fendir, Kíli and Tauriel had decided that under those circumstances it would be best if they waited for the return of the hunting party to discuss what Kíli and Tauriel had come for and the two of them had gladly accepted the invitation to stay with the Dúnedain until that happened.

A decision which Kíli did not regret – food and drink were good and so far the people were unobtrusive and friendly, not seeming to question the presence of a dwarf and an elf among them. Sure, he had earned himself a few curious glances, especially when he had walked right into the tent that Tauriel had been offered as her quarters, dropping his things beside hers on the low bed, but aside from that, Fendir's people did not seem to be particularly prejudiced against a dwarf in their midst.

As for Tauriel… Kíli grinned to himself. Especially by the younger children, she had been greeted with great enthusiasm. The Dúnedain, as they had learned in the meantime, were very friendly with the Elves of Rivendell, and the children were completely enraptured by meeting an elf in person, regardless of the fact that Tauriel, as she had tried to explain, was not from Rivendell. If anything, her being a wood elf made her even more fascinating in the eyes of the children, who demanded to hear stories of this mysterious forest she came from.

Kíli watched her in the light of one of the fires that had been lit in the camp's common area, surrounded by a group of young ones who eagerly drank up every word she said, always asking for more when she finished one story. From her shy smiles, Kíli could tell that she was quite overwhelmed by so much attention, but also touched by the warmth and admiration with which she was received. As Kíli looked on, a small boy, maybe two in human years, crawled onto Tauriel's lap, causing her to stiffen and pause in her narration. As she looked down at the child curled up in her lap, Kíli watched her expression gradually change from unease to a hesitant tenderness and he felt his own heart quicken its beat when she lifted her hand to gently caress the infant's cheek, before smiling at the other children and continuing her story like nothing had happened.

Completely taken in by the sight of Tauriel with the young child in her lap, suddenly so comfortable, so _natural_, Kíli flinched when a voice suddenly spoke up next to him.

"The life that we lead is not the safest for children." It was Fendir who now lowered himself onto the bench beside Kíli, following his gaze. "For this reason most of us only have few. A child is a very precious gift and we do everything in our power to keep the little ones safe."

Kíli glanced at him, aware that by bringing him and Tauriel here, Fendir was taking a risk that might come at the expense of his people. Not even to speak of what might happen if the Rangers decided to become more involved in what was currently happening far away from where they were now. What Fendir did not know, of course, was that Kíli could relate to his fears quite well.

"But what if that is not enough? What if you fail and a child suffers because of that?" he asked the Ranger, his throat suddenly tight. How would _he_ ever be able to protect a child from the evils of this world? Mahal, he was barely able to look after himself, always getting himself in trouble. That last year had held a few too many close encounters with death even for his liking.

Fendir frowned at him, clearly surprised by his words. He once more looked over at Tauriel who was still cradling the little boy and then back at Kíli who averted his gaze, not wanting to let on how personal this matter truly was for him.

"Failing is simply not an option in this matter," the Ranger finally replied, his voice very serious.

Kíli nodded, not really having expected a different answer. As he looked at Tauriel she caught his gaze and sent him a happy, slightly sheepish smile which he returned while his heart was a little heavy in his chest.

Fendir leaned a little closer. "It is not so hard, however." Kíli looked up at him. "Protecting your children, I mean. It is not something that you have to learn, not a particular accomplishment. It is _instinct_. Every parent inherently excels at protecting their child."

Kíli gave him a half-smile, unsure if Fendir was making a general statement or if this was a piece of advice directed at him in particular. Suddenly feeling a little lightheaded from the heat of the fire and the tobacco he had been smoking in combination with the slight feeling of panic that would overcome him from time to time, Kíli pushed himself off the bench. "I need to stretch my legs a little."

Fendir inclined his head, signaling that he had not meant to pry. "I will see you in the morning then."

Glancing at Tauriel beside the fire, Kíli slipped away into the coolness of the night, knowing that she would find him in a short while.

Originally he had intended to walk around a little, but as he passed the tent he and Tauriel shared, he was suddenly overcome with a very strong desire to simply lie down for a moment and draw the blankets over his head, shutting out the world. It had, over all, been a good day, but a very long one too. He had not spent a night in the comfort of knowing that there were others watching out for them for many days, and the promise of deep sleep seemed very enticing.

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><p>He did not know if only a few minutes had passed or more, but he had to have fallen asleep because his eyes felt tired and his limbs were warm and heavy when another body joined his under the large, warm blankets.<p>

Tauriel curled up beside him, pressing her cool face against his warm cheek. She sighed contently when he lifted his arm, allowing her to scoot even closer and embracing her.

"What are you doing under all these blankets?" she whispered, giggling a little. "I almost did not see you when I came in."

He rolled onto his side, rubbing his nose against hers. She smelled of wood and smoke and the cool air of the night. "Just enjoying the comforts that we were so unexpectedly presented with."

"And do you mind sharing?" she asked.

"As if you didn't know that without you I would enjoy this not even half as much." He felt her smile against his lips as he shifted forward a little, kissing her lightly.

Deepening their kiss, Tauriel shifted again on the mattress, climbing on top of him. With the blanket still covering both of them, Kíli could not see a thing in the darkness, but he did not have to, his hands finding their way on their own accord. Sliding them up her firm thighs, his breath hitched a little when he realized that she had apparently removed part of her clothing before climbing in bed with him and was now wearing only a loose tunic.

Pressing one hand against her lower back under the garment, he slowly slid his other hand further up her thigh, delighting in her small gasp when his fingers made contact with the delicate flesh between her legs. Holding her firmly in place, he increased his pressure against her most sensitive spot, massaging her in slow circular movements that had her trembling above him within a few moments.

Just when he was sure that she was about to come undone any second, she surprised him by sitting up, reaching between their bodies to unfasten his pants, barely taking the time to push them down his legs and pull her own tunic over her head before lowering herself on top of him, taking him inside her in one swift motion.

Now it was his turn to let out a gasp and he sat up, reaching around her waist with one arm to pull her more firmly against him, burying himself inside of her, while bracing his upper body with his other arm behind him. The blankets had slid off them when she had sat up and the light entering through the fabric of the tent from outside was just enough to make out the color of her eyes as she gazed down into his when they began to move slowly together, never taking their eyes of each other until Kíli felt his muscles tremble, his powerful release taking him by surprise. He fell back against the mattress with a gasp and pulled her with him, lifting up his hips as she rode out her final waves of pleasure.

Holding her firmly against him while he felt her heartbeat slow down where their bodies were pressed together, he reached down to pull one of the blankets back over them, nuzzling her neck once they were once more enclosed by the soft, warm fabric. She turned her head to kiss him before rolling off him, coming to lie in the exact same position that they had lain in before. Minus some of their clothes.

He turned his head and buried his face in her hair, feeling sleep slowly coming back to claim him after this very welcome interruption. "You were quite the attraction today," he murmured.

She laughed a little, her breath tickling his neck. "I suppose that is true. But to be honest, it was a nice change not to be met with reluctance and distrust for once."

He tightened his arm around her, knowing that she referred to the hostility she had been met with more than once in the last few months, by his people but also by her own. Knowing that sometimes this still hurt her. "Anyone who does not see the fantastic and beautiful person that you are, is a complete fool," he said, completely serious.

"Then it is a good thing that you did, right from the start," she relied, teasingly.

"Aye, it is, isn't it," he mumbled, feeling himself drift off. As sleep overcame him once more, a couple more words tumbled from his lips before he could stop them. "You were great tonight. With the little ones. Beautiful. It suited you."

He could not be sure if he was dreaming already, but he thought that after a few seconds of stunned silence he felt her press a kiss against his cheek. "Thank you," she whispered.

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><p><em>Thank you for reading, reviewing, following... :) Knowing that someone actually reads this, makes me so happy.<em>

_One little remark at the end: I really wish the Ranger could be Aragorn - but in the year that my story is set, he was only a young boy being raised in Rivendell. I hope those of you hoping for an appearance by him were not disappointed and I was able to make up for it with a little Kiliel fluff._


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's note: I'm terribly sorry for the long delay - life has the habit of getting in the way of my writing. Also, this chapter gave me a lot of trouble, I simply couldn't get it to end where I wanted it to. I'm not entirely satisfied with how it turned out, but I think it sets the ground for some interesting things that I have planned for the future._

_And thank you for the many reactions to my last update - I was quite overwhelmed! You're all awesome :)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit or its characters._

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><p><span><strong>Chapter V<strong>

Tauriel reclined in the soft, fragrant grass and watched Kíli pull back the string of his bow, enjoying the way that this movement emphasized the muscles in his upper body. It was quite a warm day and he only wore a light shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. She blushed and laughed a little when he caught her staring and he flashed her his most cocky smile, letting the arrow fly without even looking where it went. It hit its intended mark on the tree at the other end of the meadow nevertheless.

"Your turn," he said, lowering his bow, but she shook her head.

"No, thank you. I am quite content where I am right now," she replied, leaning back to let the sun warm her face.

After a good night's sleep they had awoken to a bright blue sky, the inhabitants of the Rangers' camp going about their daily business without haste. Since there was not much else for them to do right now except to wait for the return of the remaining men, Tauriel and Kíli had decided to make use of this rare opportunity to enjoy some leisure time without the acute pressure of the obligations they felt that they needed to fulfill.

Tauriel opened her eyes as Kíli's shadow fell across her and saw him smiling down at her. He was about to say something, but was interrupted by Fendir striding across the grass towards them. "An unusual weapon for a dwarf," he called out in his deep voice.

Kíli turned his head around and Tauriel sat up, watching the Ranger approach. Behind him trailed a boy of maybe sixteen in human years, eighteen at the most. His features were a little softer than Fendir's, his jaw less angular. But the chestnut color of his shaggy, chin length hair and his steel-grey eyes left no doubt that the boy was Fendir's son. Also, as not exactly unusual for a boy of his age, his expression was slightly sulky and a little defiant.

"I hear that a lot," Kíli said in reply to Fendir's statement. "However, those who have questioned my choice of a weapon in the past have often found that my bow and arrow can be quite useful in difficult situations."

"I am sure they did," Fendir said, grinning. "Your aim is true – impressively so."

"Thank you," Kíli said, clearly pleased at the praise of his skills. He nodded towards Tauriel and winked. "Wait until you see her, though."

Tauriel laughed and took the hand Kíli was offering her, letting him pull her to her feet. "I merely had more time to practice," she returned, brushing some stray blades of grass off her legs.

Both she and Kíli looked curiously at their new friend's young companion and promptly caught the boy staring at Tauriel, his eyes wide with obvious admiration.

Fendir turned towards the boy, who immediately dropped his gaze, his face quite red, and clasped him on the shoulder. "This is my son, Fennion," he said, sounding both proud and slightly exasperated at the same time, as fathers of adolescent boys are sometimes bound to do. "I watched you shoot and thought that maybe you would be willing to teach him a little. Give him something useful to do with his time."

"It's _Finn_," the boy mumbled, glaring at his father from below some unruly strands of hair hanging into his forehead. "And I'm not useless."

"Well, no one said you were," Fendir replied with a small sigh. Turning back to Kíli and Tauriel he said, "You would not mind, would you? With most of us men around so rarely, our boys need all the practice that they can get."

"We would be honored to teach your son," Tauriel replied, wanting to make the boy feel less uncomfortable than he so obviously was. Her attempt seemed successful and the boy beamed at her. Out of the corner of her eye, Tauriel saw Kíli grin and resisted the urge to nudge him, hoping that he would not tease the boy too much.

"Then that is settled," Fendir replied, obviously pleased. "Do not embarrass me," he said to his son, earning himself another glare from the boy.

As the Ranger left them, Tauriel thought she could hear him mutter something under his breath along the lines of "Butchering the fine name your father gave you…," and she smiled to herself, finding this dynamic between father and son very interesting. And so different from what she had for so many years observed between Legolas and his father.

Turning back to Kíli and Fendir's son, she saw the boy eye Kíli's bow with skepticism. "Have you ever shot an arrow, Finn?" she asked him, resisting the urge to roll her eyes when he blushed once more as she addressed him. This would be a long afternoon.

"Y- yes, lady Tauriel," he stammered. "But to no great success…"

She smirked. "First of all, I am not a lady. Simply call me Tauriel. Secondly, we will try our best to change this today."

Finn looked at her full of hope while Kíli quirked an eyebrow at the boy. Leaning down he picked up Tauriel's bow where she had put it down earlier and pushed it into Finn's hands. Watching him hold it a little awkwardly he muttered, "Better not break it, lad. She's _very_ sensitive when it comes to her weapon." He completed his statement by a pointed look in her direction, obviously trying to scare the boy.

This time Tauriel did roll her eyes as she watched Finn flinch and clutch her bow to his chest anxiously while Kíli turned around to retrieve his own bow and arrow. A frightened teenage boy and a dwarf full of mischief. Exactly what she needed right now.

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><p>"Yes, like this. Just imitate Kíli's posture. Put your left foot forward a little…"<p>

Tauriel stood behind Finn, trying to teach him how to hold the bow in order to be able to get a good shot while Kíli was acting as a model for the boy, repeatedly raising his bow and pulling back the string. He had been doing this for a while now and Tauriel could see him itching to finally launch his arrow a little more each time. Also, his arms and shoulders had to hurt by now.

She smiled to herself – maybe she would be able to make it up to him later with a little massage. Lately it seemed that she could not get enough of touching him, thoughts of how his skin felt beneath her hands often distracting her in her other tasks. It was not as if their relationship had not always had a very strong physical component, but recently she frequently caught herself longing for nothing but to be with Kíli and have her peace, all thoughts of adventure, war or other responsibilities wiped from her mind, a feeling which had been foreign to her until now. She sighed to herself – if things progressed as they did right now, they would soon have to start thinking about how to find peace and safety for when her body and both of their lives would be changing more drastically. This thought, while on the one hand a little depressing, also filled her with an inexplicable, almost giddy anticipation.

But here she was again, allowing herself to become distracted from the task at hand. Shaking off those slightly confusing thoughts, she stepped forward and raised her hand to gently push at Finn's elbow. The boy was already as tall as she was and would outgrow her by several inches in the next few years. In terms of stature he was clearly taking after his father, his shoulders broad while not yet overly muscular. He did however have a lot of work to do in terms of posture and body tension, his movements always a little imprecise and lacking in grace.

"You will want to raise your elbow a little to get a good aim," she said, putting her other hand between his shoulder blades to guide his upper body into the correct position.

Finn flinched a little under her touch, and half turned around to cast a sweet, innocent smile at her over his shoulder. With his body turned and his bow lowered, the arrow he had been holding slipped through his fingers and would have hit Kíli a couple of feet away had he not jumped out of the way with a little yelp.

"Oi!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "Watch where you are shooting! Or rather _who_ you are shooting…"

Tauriel could not help but smile a little at the way he glared at Finn, the boy's eyes widening in horror. "I am so sorry, master dwarf! I don't know how that happened."

Kíli raised his eyebrows at the boy and glanced at Tauriel standing closely behind him. "Well, I for one do. Focus, Finn. You will never hit your target if you don't. Come on now, take up your position."

Tauriel grinned as the boy scrambled to stand next to Kíli again, quickly raising his bow once more. Kíli winked at her before turning around to continue instructing their young friend, his eyes sparkling with suppressed laughter. She decided to hang back for now and let the two of them continue their lesson since her presence was obviously distracting to the boy. She did not mind – like this she was permitted to resume her earlier occupation of watching Kíli, her mind straying along the different paths that might or might not open themselves up to them soon.

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><p>An hour later, Finn had managed to hit a tree with an arrow several times – never the tree they had singled out as a target, but Kíli decided that he would not be so very particular about this today – and the three of them were sitting in the shade of a large tree, enjoying a break from the heat of the afternoon sun.<p>

As he had made some progress with bow and arrow, Finn had also begun to grow less uncomfortable around the two of them and, by now, was speaking freely to both Tauriel and himself. Although Kíli could still see a familiar glint in the boy's eyes whenever he looked at Tauriel. But he could not blame him for that, could he? Sat there under the tree in the lush, green grass, the sun creating golden reflections in her hair where its rays penetrated the canopy of leaves, she truly was a sight for sore eyes.

"I believe your father will be rather pleased with the progress you made today," Tauriel was saying now, causing Finn to smile at her brightly. But quickly his smile faltered a little.

"I am not sure," he said. "Sometimes it seems that no matter what I do, he still views me as a child, incapable of doing anything to his satisfaction."

"Now, I am sure that is not true," Tauriel replied, clearly surprised by the way that Finn viewed his relationship with his father. After all, Fendir's love for his son had been written all over his face when he had introduced them earlier.

"Oh, but it is," the boy insisted. "He never lets me come with him, not even to hunt, and makes me stay behind with the women and children instead. How am I supposed to learn anything like that?"

"He is merely trying to protect you," Tauriel returned, looking to Kíli for a little help.

"Trust me, Finn," Kíli jumped in, leaning forward to clasp his hand on the lad's shoulder. "The day will come soon enough where you will be able to prove yourself to your father. And I am sure you will make him very proud. Even if he has a hard time showing it to you."

Finn smiled an insecure, but hopeful little smile at him, and Kíli was reminded of the way that he and Fíli would practically trail around behind Thorin when they were younger, waiting for a chance to show off some of their accomplishments. As the years progressed, Thorin had included them in his own adventures more and more, culminating in him asking the brothers to join him on his quest to reclaim Erebor. And while he had seldom shown it and had often criticized both of them – mostly Kíli though – for their often boisterous behavior, in their hearts they had always known that their uncle was proud of them and loved each of them like a father loved his sons. Until Kíli had gone and fallen madly in love with an elf-maid that is, but that was a whole other story.

Kíli felt Tauriel's eyes on him and immediately tried to push away the pain that thinking about his uncle and brother caused. He smiled reassuringly at her before turning back to Finn. "Are you up for another round of practice then?"

Finn grinned and was just about to reply when they were interrupted by his father walking up to them, his expression tense. The three of them got up from the ground as he approached.

"The others have returned," he spoke tersely and Kíli wondered what it was that had the man, who usually seemed so composed, on edge. "You are to join our gathering at sundown."

Kíli turned to glance at Finn behind him before resting his gaze on Tauriel who nodded while biting her lip a little nervously. "Seems that playtime is over."

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><p>Sitting at a large wooden table in a circular tent at the center of the Rangers' settlement when it was just beginning to get dark outside, Kíli and Tauriel were faced with a group of about fifteen grim looking men, all of them staring at the elf and the dwarf in their midst. Tauriel forbade herself to be discouraged by their expressions, telling herself that after a slightly rocky – and more than a little embarrassing - start, Fendir had only ever shown kindness to both of them. Why would his kinsmen be any different?<p>

Fendir had entered the tent right behind them a few minutes ago, pulling the flaps of the grey fabric closed behind him. Stepping in front of Kíli and Tauriel, he had addressed the men. "These are Tauriel from the Greenwood and Kíli, nephew to Thorin Oakenshield, from the reclaimed kingdom of Erebor. They have come to bring some matters to our attention they believe are worth taking notice of." Turning around to look at Kíli, he had added. "It has been agreed that your case will be heard." And then, under his breath, "More I cannot promise you."

A short, but heavy silence had followed during which Kíli had eyed the men sat around the table with visible hesitation. Tauriel could not blame him for that – some of them did not exactly look like they were very keen on hearing their story and she wondered what it was that made the atmosphere among the group so tense. Were they always like this? Judging by the other inhabitants of their camp she had met, that seemed hard to believe. Was it hers and Kíli's presence then that had the air inside the tent crackling with tension? Or something else entirely?

Clearing his throat, Kíli had sat down at the table eventually, and had begun to narrate a shortened version of the dwarves' quest to reclaim Erebor, the defeat of the dragon and the events surrounding the great battle, his voice growing more confident as he spoke. Taking the seat next to him, Tauriel had found herself stealing a few glances at him while he spoke, suppressing a proud smile. From time to time she forgot that he was actually a prince among his people and had been reared by Thorin to stand his ground in situations such as this – even though he himself was rarely aware of the natural air of authority that he sometimes exuded when speaking in front of others as he did now.

Resisting the urge to take his hand in hers when he finished his speech by telling the men about some of the things Gandalf had related to them on their recent journey, Tauriel looked around the table in anticipation, wondering how the Rangers would react to the many things Kíli had just revealed to them. Even though she had now spent quite some time among them, she found it difficult to judge how involved they were with the world around them. From what Finn and some of the women and children had said, the men spent a great deal of their time scouring the lands for anything or anyone that could pose a threat to both themselves and other inhabitants of Eriador, but if they felt responsible for anything happening beyond its borders, she had yet to determine.

While some of the men were leaning forward in their seats, listening to Kíli attentively and with curiosity, it worried Tauriel that a several of them only seemed to be listening grudgingly, their arms crossed in front of their chests and their stares cold. This did not look too good.

After another tense silence a man who could have been Fendir's father in terms of age, the hair on his temples graying, leaned forward in his chair. Of all the men grouped around the table he had been the only one that Tauriel had not been able to place into either group, hesitantly curious or outwardly averse, his expression unreadable. "We know the great tales of the riches of Erebor, of course. I believe you have spent enough time among us though, to see that gold, silver and gems are nothing to us. And neither do I see what we have to offer the great heirs of Durin."

As he inclined his head, Tauriel could not be sure whether those last words were said with sincerity or mockery and she narrowed her eyes slightly at the man. If the same thoughts passed through Kíli's head he did not let it on when he answered, rising from his chair in order to not have to look up to the men surrounding him. "We have not come here to buy nor to sell. I will not deny that the treasure below the mountain played a great part in my uncle's quest to reclaim our homeland, but now that this has been accomplished it is time to set our sight to things of much greater - even though much less material - value."

"And that would be?" the older Ranger returned, raising his eyebrows at Kíli.

"Friendship," Kíli simply replied, causing the man to smile slightly.

Before he was able to reply though, another man spoke up at the far end of the table, a lean fellow with narrow features. "And how long will such friendship last?" he asked, getting up from his chair. "Until some treasure sparks your king's interest and all loyalty is forgotten over it? I know the glint in a dwarf's eye when it comes to shiny objects and I would rather not have to rely on one to watch my back."

Kíli pressed his lips together at that and Tauriel jumped in, hoping that he would not allow himself to be provoked by the sullen Ranger. "I believe you greatly underestimate the loyal character of dwarves," she said, keeping her voice deliberately light. "For I have seen it with my own eyes and assure you that once it is won, the friendship of a dwarf is not easily lost.

Another man spoke up, narrowing his eyes at her. "And is it then your faith in the respectability of dwarves that leads you to travel the lands with one of them to keep you company?" When she did not reply immediately, he added in Sindarin, "What are you to that dwarf? Hostage? Accomplice? _Mistress_? Speak freely."

Tauriel found she did not like the sneer in his voice when he said those last words. Answering in the common tongue, she glared at him. "I have nothing to say that he cannot hear. And what we are to each other is our business alone - I am here, as Kíli is, because I believe that much pain can be avoided if we reach out to each other now instead of continuing to live in ignorance of each other's hardships."

The tall man who had voiced his doubts before got up from his seat at that, his expression tense. For some reason Tauriel got the impression that what she had just said had been exactly what he had been waiting for, his face betraying some barely subdued aggression. "And how would this 'reaching out' to one another look like?" He sounded angry, even though Tauriel could not fathom what that either she or Kíli had said, could have provoked him. "Is thre truly a scenario in which your people or his would put the lives of a few scattered Dúnedain above their own gain and come to our aid? Or would this merely mean sacrificing our own men when your kings need some bodies to fill up the ranks in their armies?"

Both Kíli and Tauriel were visibly taken aback by the sudden vehemence with which they were spoken to. The angry Ranger stared at both of them for another couple of seconds before he was prompted to lower himself back into his chair by the older Ranger from before putting his hand on his shoulder. "Sit, Rúthon," Tauriel heard him mutter in Sindarin. Then the older man turned back to the two of them. "You must understand that we are not in a position to give our trust lightheartedly. Nor can we afford to enter into any sort of obligation that might put us at risk – we are too diminished already. Just last night one of our best men was killed in an orc raid."

Tauriel closed her eyes briefly. Beside her she heard Kíli exhale. So this was what had caused so much tension among the Rangers. Well, they could clearly have picked a better time to be discussing the threats that Gandalf saw in the future, but now that things had already been put out in the open, it was too late to take them back.

"We are sorry for your loss," Kíli said, his voice sincere.

The older Ranger nodded. "Thank you." Looking around at the other men, he paused before speaking again. "Despite everything that has just been said, I believe we can all agree that the orcs have grown bolder lately, venturing into our lands more frequently than a mere few years ago. And if I for one understand our guests correctly, the reasons behind this may be much more complicated, much more _dangerous_, than we presumed. Maybe we will not be able to handle this situation on our own in the long run."

He looked to Kíli who inclined his head to signal that he agreed with this view. "I am not saying that we would be able to prevent something as has happened to your friend from happening in the future," he said, drawing the attention of the men back to him. "But we might find ways in which we can work together that will be profitable for all of us. And I am not speaking of gold and silver. We can certainly offer you protection – which form that would take can be negotiated. My uncle-"

He was interrupted by a derisive snort from the Ranger who had previously addressed Tauriel in Sindarin. "I do not know why we are even wasting our time listening to the promises of a dwarven princeling and his elven sweetheart – or whatever she is. Both of their kingdoms are famous for turning their back on the needs of others – the dwarves hoard their treasure below the mountain and that great elven king of yours-" he turned to Tauriel, "He is notorious for keeping to his forest, turning a blind eye to everything else around him."

Kíli, visibly outraged, made to speak, but Tauriel beat him to it, keeping her voice calm. "I am not in the service of Thranduil," she said, earning herself a few surprised glances. "But even if I was – things are changing in the lands east of the Misty Mountains, alliances are shifting. Now, you can insult me or both of us as much as you want, but that will not change the fact that there will come a time in the future when all of us will need to rely on each other. We might as well start with that now before it is too late."

When she was done speaking, no one said anything for a few moments. Then she felt Kíli wrap his hand around hers beneath the table, giving it a firm squeeze. "Come on," he mumbled, making to rise from his seat once more. And then, louder, addressing the others, "Think about what we have said. Gandalf – Mithrandir – sent us here because he firmly believes that you should become more involved in the events outside of Eriador. And after everything we have heard and seen here, we would be honored to consider you our allies in the future. We have been welcomed into your camp with great hospitality for which we are thankful – let us know what you decide and we will take it from there."

Tauriel rose together with him, letting her gaze sweep over the men seated around the table. The variety of the expressions she saw did not give her any clue as to what their decision would be in the end – all she _could _tell was that their discussion would not be a brief one. Sending a brief smile towards Fendir, who still looked slightly uncomfortable but answered with a slight smile of his own, she followed Kíli out of the tent and into the night, gratefully inhaling the cool air. It smelled of rain.

Kíli had not let go of her hand as they had exited the tent and now interlaced his fingers with hers, pulling her along with him gently. "I say we better head back to our tent and enjoy its privacy while we still have that privilege. I have a feeling that Fendir's invitation to stay here might soon be revoked."

Tauriel pressed her lips together at that notion and cast a glance back at the tent they had just left. "Some of them did not exactly seem taken with the idea – or with us. That much is true."

He huffed. "Now that's a bit of an understatement if you ask me."

She smiled and tugged at his hand to cause him to stop in his tracks and turn towards her. Stepping close, she smiled down at him. "Regardless of what the outcome of this will be, you did well in there," she said.

He returned her smile a little hesitantly and raised their joined hands to press a warm kiss to her chilled fingers. "So did you. I merely wonder what good all of this will do if, in the end, we fail in our task."

She touched her forehead to his, closing her eyes for a moment. "Let us not worry about this right now. It might still all turn out well."

"Maybe." He did not sound too convinced though. They were interrupted by the sound of distant thunder.

Tauriel glanced up at the sky. "It seems that the weather is changing."

He followed her gaze, scrunching up his face. "Gives the whole thing a bit of a dramatic touch, doesn't it?"

She laughed and let go of his hand, looping her arm through his instead, continuing on their path towards their shared quarters. With the air growing cooler around them and a slight wind picking up, the prospect of being able to curl up together beneath the blankets seemed even more tempting than usual.


	6. Chapter 6

_Author's note: Finally, an update without too much of a delay. I hope I didn't scare away some of you with my irregular updating in the last few weeks. This chapter consists of dialogue, mostly. The next couple of chapters will contain more action though, that's a promise ;) Enjoy, and thank you for reviewing, favoriting, following._

_Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit or any of its characters._

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><p><span><strong>Chapter VI<strong>

It was Fendir who came to find them a few hours later and Kíli knew that he was not bringing good news before he uttered so much as a single word.

It had begun to rain in the meantime and Kíli and Tauriel were lying in their tent with its flaps thrown open, enjoying the patter of the rain on the roof while being warm and comfortable on their makeshift bed which they had pulled up closer to the tent's entrance. Tonight there were no stars in the sky – but watching for the occasional streak of lightning in the black night sky was also interesting to the eye for a change.

Fendir cautiously stepped further into the small cone of light protruding from the entrance of their tent. "I know it is late and if I am disturbing you please say so and I will return tomorrow." Droplets of rainwater were falling from the strands of his hair, running down his neck.

They both sat up immediately. "No, not at all," Tauriel replied. "Please come inside – don't stand there in the rain."

Fendir obeyed and entered their small tent, not quite meeting either of their gazes. He perched himself on a small stool they had so far only used to drape their coats over. Tauriel scooted closer to the edge of their bed, looking up at Fendir expectantly, while Kíli got up and stood next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"They said no, didn't they?" he asked when the Ranger hesitated.

Fendir sighed. "Aye. I am afraid they did."

Kíli could feel Tauriel's shoulders sag a little beneath his hands. While they had kept their previous discussions of the eventual outcome of their negotiations with the Rangers lighthearted, he had felt all along that she had, possibly without even knowing, set her hopes on them accepting their offer, speculating, maybe, that this would mean spending more time with Fendir's people.

Kíli himself had enjoyed their time at the Ranger's camp, but for Tauriel they were of course a perfect fit, accustomed to the ways of elves without some of the pride and longstanding prejudices of Thranduil and his followers.

"We are sorry to hear this," he returned to Fendir, tightening his grip on Tauriel's shoulder.

The Ranger dropped his gaze for a moment. "You have to understand," he then said, "that our situation is precarious right now. Without a firm leadership, we are trying to make our decisions communally. This is not always so easy, however. Many of us are used to complete independence and are not so good at… negotiating. I apologize if tonight things were said that were disrespectful to either you or your people."

Kíli shook his head. "There is no need to apologize." He did wonder, though, what the trouble was with leadership amongst the Dúnedain. Fendir had alluded to this issue more than once now, but it had also been clear that he was not willing to divulge anything more than that they were currently without a king – or was it chieftain? He made a mental note to ask Gandalf about this when – and if – he saw him again in the foreseeable future. "Thank you for your help though," he said to Fendir, wanting to make their new friend feel better despite the grave disappointment he felt at the news the Ranger had just delivered. "Does that mean that you, at least, have made up your mind and consider an alliance with the dwarves and, by extension, also the elves of Mirkwood a wise decision?"

Fendir got up from his seat and paced the length of the tent. "I did not, at first. But I do now. You are both honorable, skilled warriors, and if your respective kin resemble you even in the slightest, the doubts voiced by some of the other men are quite unjustified. I believe," he began but then faltered. After a few thoughtful moments he went on. "I believe that before long we might be able to make a decision such as the one you asked of us today. There were some who were not averse to the idea and maybe, with something – some_one – _to unite us again, all those doubts mentioned tonight might be put to rest."

Kíli nodded, smiling wryly. "Maybe tonight was not the best of nights for this discussion. We truly are sorry for the loss you have suffered. Were you close to the man who was killed?"  
>Fendir shook his head. "No, not quite. He <em>was<em> a great fighter though, a brave man, and losing him is a terrible blow to our community."

"Even the best of us are bound to make a mistake at some point," Tauriel spoke up, her voice sounding slightly hollow, making Kíli's heart ache a little bit. "One false step, one unguarded moment…" She fell silent.

Fendir looked at her, his brow furrowed in sorrow. "Thank you both for your concern. I hope that, despite everything that has been said tonight, you will still consider staying here with us for a while longer. Surely the other men must see how much we can profit from having you among us even if there will be no outspoken alliance between us – for now."

Kíli, who had been looking down at Tauriel in concern, shifted his eyes to Fendir in surprise. "I did not think we would be welcome to stay."

The split second of hesitation before the Ranger spoke again told Kíli everything he needed to know. "You are _my_ guests and you are welcome to stay with me and my family for as long as you want. Also," Fendir smiled at Tauriel, "I am certain the children would be very disappointed to lose their new favorite story-teller so soon."

Kíli knew Fendir was trying to offer comfort and sympathy, but this did not hide from him some of the other meanings behind his words. Staying with the Rangers, there would always be some who were opposed to them. And while Fendir was still trying to offer some hope of an eventual alliance between the Dúnedain of the North and the Dwarves of Erebor, Kíli knew that, strictly speaking, lingering there for too long might cost them valuable time where they might be continuing their travels, spreading the messages they had been charged with by Gandalf and also Thorin. Especially if, as he suspected, there would soon come a time when they would have to adjust their life to their changing situation. Unless something happened to prove the contrary very soon, they would have to assume that Tauriel would not be able to travel the way they had been travelling until now in a few months' time.

He did not know if Tauriel was thinking along those lines as well, but clearly the implications of Fendir's words were not lost to her either. "It is no secret that I have greatly enjoyed our stay here," she said, seeming to speak to Fendir as well as to Kíli, who lowered himself beside her on the low bed once more. "But already we have spent too much time among people who have frowned upon us either for what we are, who we are or where we come from and, most frequently, for what we are to each other. It becomes very tiring, eventually."

When her hand went to her stomach, Kíli thought at first that this was unconsciously done, the difficult decisions they were once more faced with causing her to let down her carefully maintained guard for a moment. His heart jumped into his throat, however, when she addressed Fendir, her hand not leaving her midsection and her face slightly colored. "You may have noticed that Kíli's and my situation is about to become even more complicated than it is now. Those who frown upon us already will be even less likely to accept us when soon we will not be able to hide our little secret any longer." She gave a slightly exasperated chuckle. "How could they, when we can barely accept the truth of it ourselves."

Kíli stared at her with wide eyes, his heart beating fast. Never had she acknowledged what was happening to her – to _them_ – so explicitly. And in front of someone else, no less. He had been waiting for her to reach this point for a long time, had gone over in his head what he would say to her when she finally did, how he would show her that she could always rely on him and that he would stand at her side no matter what. And now that that moment had come, his mind was blank and all he could do was look at her in wonder, the truth of what she had just said all of a sudden quite overwhelming to him. He felt her watch him out of the corner of her eye and inwardly kicked himself to overcome this sudden stupor, quickly reaching out to cover her hand with his.

Fendir gave a low sigh as he watched their exchange. "Yes," he said, "I have been aware of your situation for a while. I will not deny that it is rather unusual, but surely I have not given you the impression that I am passing judgment on either you or on your unborn child."

Once more, Kíli looked at their new friend in surprise and thought, not for the first time, that he really was excessively perceptive. "You did not give that impression," he hurried to assure him. "But I believe that Tauriel is right in assuming that, staying here, we will be back in almost the exact same position that made us leave our homes and seek a life on the road in the first place."

Fendir frowned. "Maybe you underestimate my people. We are used to handling unusual situations. Also, we have travelled a lot in our lives, have met different people with different customs. Once the other men realize that you, as individuals, can be trusted, you might be surprised by their capability for tolerance. They are not as narrow-minded as they might have seemed tonight."

Kíli inclined his head, marveling at the Ranger's persistence in trying to convince them to stay with the Dúnedain. "We are honored that you think it worth an effort to persuade us to stay here, Fendir." He turned his head to look at Tauriel beside him when she turned her hand beneath his, threading her fingers through his. She smiled at him a little shyly, shrugging her shoulders almost imperceptibly. He turned back to Fendir. "With the weather being what it is right now, we are not going anywhere tonight. We will take some of the things you have said into consideration and speak with you again in the morning. Will that be alright?"

Fendir nodded, smiling. "Of course. You know where to find me." Getting up from the stool he was still perched on, he crossed over to the tent's entrance.

Before he stepped outside, Tauriel called out to him. "Fendir, wait." He turned his head to look back at the two of them. Tauriel had got up from the bed and took the few steps necessary to stand in front of him. "Thank you again, for everything you have done for us," she said, smiling tightly. "We came here in search of allies and were disappointed, I am afraid. We did find a friend, however."

For a moment, Kíli could have sworn that he saw the hint of a blush creep across Fendir's bearded cheeks. He grinned to himself, wondering if Tauriel knew how she affected people when she spoke like this, her eyes shining with kindness. The Ranger ducked his head and smiled. "I find that a true friend is a rare, but incredibly valuable thing," he said. "Good night then, both of you."

With that he disappeared out into the darkness. Tauriel remained at the tent's entrance for another few moments, gazing out into the black, stormy night. Kíli watched a gust of wind sweep back her hair from her face, a flash of lightning illuminating her features. "Come back to bed," he said, pulling back the covers. "I don't want you hit by one of those thunderbolts."

She turned her head, grinning at him over her shoulder. "They would have trouble catching me," she said. "I run faster than any bolt of lightning when I am at my best."

Despite her words, she quickly relinquished her position by the tent's entrance and came back to sit on the edge of their mattress. Kíli scooted over to her, brushing her hair aside to kiss the soft skin beneath her earlobe. "Yes, I quite believe you," he murmured in between kisses. She hummed beneath his lips and he wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her closer against himself. "I would rather you did not demonstrate this to me tonight though."

She made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a low chuckle. "Why? Are you afraid to get wet and ruin your hair, Master Dwarf?"

He gently scraped his teeth over her skin in reply to her teasing, eliciting a small gasp from her. "Not quite," he said, pulling her back onto the bed, sweeping down to capture her mouth with his as soon as the back of her head hit the pillows. Drawing back just enough to be able to speak, he added, "It is just that I would much rather spend our time doing this instead of chasing after you in the rain and-"

Whatever else he had been about to say was silenced when she lifted her head to close the half-inch of distance between them, crushing her lips against his once more while throwing her arms around his neck at the same time, pulling him down on top of her.

Much later that night they were both still awake, the rain and the noise of the storm raging outside making it difficult to sleep. The decisions that they knew they had to make soon did not help with that either. Kíli ran his fingers through Tauriel's hair absentmindedly, staring at the shadows that the trees swaying in the wind were making on their tent's roof. Her head was resting on his chest, one of her arms slung across his torso.

They had not said anything for a while and when Kíli spoke his voice sounded loud in his ears, his words cutting through the silence in the tent almost like the thunder outside would crack through the air of the night every few minutes. "What do you want to do next?" he simply asked.

Tauriel did not answer right away, but turned her head so that she was looking at him. She searched his eyes for a few moments before she sighed with a small smile on her lips. "We cannot stay here."

"Who's to say that we can't?" Kíli asked her even though he felt that she was right. "And in any way – I asked you what you wanted to do, not what you thought we _should_ do."

She smiled again and rolled onto her back to stare up at the ceiling, the back of her head still resting on his chest. "What can I say," she said after a while. "I want to do everything at once. I want to climb the highest mountains, travel the greatest distances. I want to see the sea." She let her head fall to the side and looked up at him. "But I think we both agree that this is not the time to be planning such adventures."

He looked at her, worrying his lower lip between his teeth. His left hand travelled across the mattress and found her stomach beneath the covers, his fingertips caressing the soft skin there. "So you are sure now?"

Her gaze returned to the ceiling and she smiled a little absentmindedly. "All my life I never put much thought into it to be honest, but whenever I did think about becoming a mother I thought it would feel… different. Not better or worse, just different." She looked at him once more, her gaze not troubled anymore as it had been whenever they had spoken of this before. "But yes, I am quite sure," she added calmly.

Her admission did strange things to him, happiness and anticipation mingling with fear and no small amount of panic. But still, when he sat up a happy grin covered his face. Shifting so that she lay in his lap he looked down at her and cupped her cheek in his palm, the sudden sting of tears in his eyes coming as a surprise to him. "I promise you," he said, his voice a little throaty, "that we will find a way to make this work. I know you don't need me to protect you, but still I will do anything in my power to protect you. Both of you."

Tauriel sat up at this, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning her forehead against his. "I know you will. And never think that I don't need you, because I do. More than anything else."

He leaned forward and kissed her before pulling her into a hug. "You will see, Tauriel, she will be beautiful."

She drew back, arching her eyebrows at him. "She?" she asked with a little smile in her voice.

He shrugged, feeling a little foolish as he grinned at her. "Or he. I like to thinks it's a girl though – the men in my family are a bit of a handful."

She laughed at that, the sound warming his heart. "Yes, I see what you mean by that."

They both fell silent after another few moments of low laughter and just looked at each other. Eventually Kíli reached out to brush a strand of hair behind Tauriel's ear. "I think tonight we won't be deciding what we are going to do next."

She smiled and shook her head. "No, I think we won't. Maybe it will be wiser to wait and see if fate does not show us where to go and what to do in the end – it has done so many times in the past."

He nodded. "Let's give it a few days. Perhaps something really does come up to give us direction."

"I think Fendir will be pleased to hear of this decision," she said, smiling.

"I'm sure he will," Kíli replied. "As will his son," he added with a little wink.

Tauriel laughed and rolled her eyes at this. She seemed about to say something in return when she suddenly froze, her brow furrowed in concentration.

"What? What is it?" Kíli asked her, worry tugging at his insides when he watched her face grow from playful to deadly serious within the matter of seconds.

"I thought I heard something," she replied, her frown deepening.

"It might just be the storm knocking something about…" Kíli began, but she quickly silenced him with her hand held up, the frown on her face deepening.

After listening in concentration for another few seconds her eyes suddenly grew wide and she looked at him, fear etched into her features. "Get dressed and take up your weapons," she whispered, her hand wrapped around his in an iron grip. "Something is coming."


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's note: I promised you more action, didn't I? Here you go. I hope you don't hate me by the end of this chapter :)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own The Hobbit or any of its characters._

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><p><strong><span>Chapter VII<span>**

A nightly orc raid is a nasty business. An orc raid during a storm, especially when it catches you off your guard, is so much worse. As Kíli followed Tauriel out into the utterly black night, he was scarcely able to see a thing, the rain pouring down from the sky, running into his eyes. If at least his heart had not been beating so fast, every beat resonating loudly in his ears like the beat of a drum, he would have been able to listen for any sounds that would give away who was attacking them and from where they came. As it was, he had to rely on Tauriel and her invariably acute sense of both sight and hearing to guide them both through the darkness.

Their tent was located at the very edge of the camp and after sprinting across a couple of feet of muddy ground, Tauriel quickly pulled him against the side of a small wooden shed that the Dúnedain used to store their firewood. Crouching low, she spoke silently, her voice just loud enough to reach his ears over the combined noise of the storm and his own pulse in his ear. "It is definitely an orc pack. They are advancing from the other side of the camp." She whipped her head around suddenly and Kíli followed her gaze to watch a tall shadow carefully make its way between some of the tents closest to them, sword in hand. "It seems that the watch has alerted the remaining Rangers – so there is no need for us to do this," Tauriel whispered.

Kíli strained his eyes to look towards the other side of the camp. He thought he saw a bit of light there – torches, maybe? He let his gaze swerve to the right and thoughtfully looked at the low but steep incline that ran along one side of the settlement, covered in trees. "Do you think we can go around the camp in a circle, charge at them from a direction where they don't expect it?"

Tauriel followed his gaze and nodded. "That is a good thought. It might even give us the chance to take out some of them without the others noticing."

"Can you tell how many there are?" Kíli was worried. The conditions were really not good with the weather being what it was and with at least as many women and children in the camp as there were men, the Rangers would not be able to charge at the aggressors with full force. And Tauriel… he knew that there was no point at all in trying to get her to stay out of this. If he did, she would in all likelihood only find some way to do something even more dangerous, and if she had to fight, he would rather have her at his side instead of somewhere on her own.

Tauriel cocked her head to one side, straining her ears for sounds that Kíli could not hear. "Not exactly," she replied. "There are definitely a few, but they are trying to be quiet, so perhaps there are more than there seem to be."

Kíli frowned, not entirely pleased with the answer. "Let's go then," he said, tightening his grip on his sword. He thought he was doing quite a pathetic job at trying to protect her and their unborn child, but if it had to be this way, he swore to himself that he would not let her out of his sight and would behead anyone who dared so much as to touch a hair on her head.

He moved to straighten up, but was held back by Tauriel's hand grasping him by the collar of his shirt, drawing him down into a hard, breathless kiss. Her face was wet beneath his lips and when they broke apart, they stared at each other for a long moment, her eyes like tiny stars in the darkness. "We move fast," she whispered, "or as fast as the conditions allow us to. When we strike, we must be quick and precise. Follow my lead whenever you fear to lose your footing, I will try to guide us both." Her eyes never left his, and while her words were matter-of-factly, her gaze spoke something else entirely. _Be careful out there – I could not bear to see you hurt_. _Not for my sake._

He responded with a squeeze of his hand on hers, even though, in his head, he disagreed with her. If that was what it took, he would not hesitate to throw himself between her and the enemy. "I'll let you be my ears and eyes where necessary," he returned, knowing that there was no use in arguing with her anyway. "We have one advantage after all – they will not expect a dwarf and an elf among those whom they attack. A former Captain of the Guard of the Woodland Realm, no less."

She smiled, caressing his stubbly cheek. "Do not sell yourself below your worth, prince of Erebor."

Exhaling deeply, he pressed his forehead against hers for a second and hoped that she was right and his fighting skills would suffice to get them both out of this unscathed before raising himself off the ground, their hands still joined. "I am ready when you are."

She nodded and let go off his hand, tightly grasping her weapons before dashing off into the night, Kíli following closely on her heels.

He realized quickly that, in addition to the challenge to his vision, the weather was not making it easy for him to travel the length of the incline framing one side of the camp, his boots alternately getting stuck in the mud or the ground sliding away beneath his feet. Tauriel, of course, seemed untouched by such troubles, her feet barely seeming to touch the ground as she proceeded ahead, pausing repeatedly to allow him to catch up with her.

As they finally reached a point where they - or Tauriel, rather, because Kíli was still unable to see much more than what was directly in front of his eyes - were able to overlook the camp, it became clear that the number of enemies was slightly greater than they had hoped, but not much bigger than they had anticipated.

They both crouched down on the ground, trying to assess the situation from their elevated perspective. "They are charging at the Rangers with full force, trying to push them deeper into their own camp. The Rangers are outnumbered," Tauriel murmured, staring out into the night in concentration. She let her gaze swerve over the grounds, the strategic warrior in her clearly taking over. "I say we try to break the pack up. Drive half of them towards the river while the men handle the rest of them and defend the camp."

Kíli nodded, seeing the advantages of her scheme, even while a doubtful frown spread across his forehead. "That is quite an ambitious plan," he said. "How do we drive them apart – just the two of us?"

Tauriel smirked confidently and straightened up, raising her bow. "Our first step is to make sure we have their attention. Those brutes are never able to resist provocation and the rest will play itself out as expected."

Kíli glanced at his own bow more than a little doubtfully. Tauriel looked down at him questioningly and once again he felt so helplessly pathetic – how would he be able to protect her when he could barely see where he was firing his arrows?

"Kíli." He looked up at her and saw on her face no doubt or condescension. "Forget about what you cannot see," she said, when she was sure that she had his attention, "and focus on what you _can_ see. I have seen you shoot plenty of times and tonight is no different than all those occasions. You have never failed me or anyone else and you will not do so tonight."

She spoke with such sincerity that Kíli brushed off some painful memories of where he _had_ indeed failed his family or friends in the past and pushed himself to his feet, his grip on his bow firm as he raised it. Tonight would not be one of those times.

He launched his first arrow in perfect synchronicity with Tauriel's first shot and, before the arrows had had time to reach their opponents, they both threw themselves forward and charged down the steep slope, firing arrow after arrow at the orcs down below. Kíli quickly found that there were ways in which the bad weather could be used to his advantage and where before the ground had slipped away beneath his feet, causing him to stumble, he now used the slippery mud to deliberately slide several feet at a time, the fluidity of his motions allowing him more time to get a good aim at the enemy. Tauriel, always staying within his line of sight, did the same thing even though she looked much more graceful doing it - obviously.

Reaching the bottom of the slope, Kíli saw that some of the orcs, who had before looked around in confusion when members of their pack had been hit by arrows of an unknown source, had by now registered their presence and were turning away from the camp while the remainder of the group was too engaged in battle with the Rangers to notice.

"Kíli! This way," Tauriel shouted somewhere to his right and he did not hesitate before sprinting after her, following her into the rough direction of the river. Looking over his shoulder he saw that Tauriel had been correct in her predictions. About half of the orc pack was pursuing them, their angry snarls probably expressing their dissatisfaction at being poked from behind by both elvish and dwarven arrows. Kíli decided to further increase their displeasure with the whole situation by turning to swiftly fire an arrow at the creature leading the group, smirking when the arrow hit its mark in the orc's head, taking it down.

Turning back around he kept running and saw that Tauriel had almost reached a line of trees behind which, Kíli knew from the hike they had taken together with Fendir when he had led them to the Ranger's camp, the ground fell away towards the river. If they could just manage to circle around the group and drive them down that slope, this would provide them with an invaluable advantage, because then they would be able to charge at them from above. And if they were lucky, some of them might even just fall into the river and be carried away by the current which had to be pretty strong after all the rain that had already fallen that night.

Tauriel had to be thinking the same thing because, after stopping to fire a few arrows in rapid succession, effectively taking out at least three of their assailants, she swerved to the left which caused her to end up on the far left of the pack while Kíli was positioned to their right. He did not like the amount of physical distance that this created between them, filled with some very angry orcs, but he had to admit that Tauriel's strategy was the most efficient in putting themselves between the pack and the Ranger's camp while at the same time making it easier to defeat the remaining dozen or so.

By now Kíli barely registered the problematic weather, his senses attuned to its visual and auditory challenges and he confidently drew his sword, beating back their attackers bit by bit, slowly closing the gap between Tauriel and him. After plunging his blade into the throat of a particularly foul orc he staggered back slightly as he withdrew his sword, but used the moment to grab a rock his eyes caught upon and launched it at another orc he had seen sneaking up on Tauriel from behind, hitting it in the head and causing it to drop to the ground with a gurgling sound. Tauriel whirled around, her blades raised threateningly, but stopped and frowned when she found her attacker on the ground already. Quirking an eyebrow in Kíli's direction, she took a second to smile at his not very graceful, but indubitably effective move.

Shrugging his shoulders with a grin on his face, Kíli did not hesitate to throw himself into battle again. His arms ached and his forehead stung from a small cut he had received on his temple, but by now he felt assured that they would beat back the enemy without much difficulty and without any real danger to themselves. That, of course, was the point where it all went downhill – and not just in the metaphorical sense of the word.

Fighting two orcs at once, Kíli had by now beat them back so far that they were just inside the tree-line and he knew that just a few feet more and the chances were good of them stumbling and simply breaking their ugly necks in their fall. He did not even have to wait that long, however, since one of his opponents actually managed to behead its own companion with a desperate, misguided swing of the axe it carried. For a split second, both Kíli and the remaining orc stared at the slumped body on the ground in surprise and, for Kíli's part, bemusement, but then Kíli shook himself out of his stupor and leapt forward once more, sending the orc tumbling down the slope leading towards the river with a heavy blow to its broad, grimy chest.

He figured that if the vile creature had happened to have survived the fall – which he deemed unlikely - it probably would not make another appearance any time soon and so he did not pause before whirling back around, hurrying uphill to rejoin Tauriel. He was almost out of the trees and could see that by now there were only four orcs left which Tauriel appeared to be holding successfully at bay when his foot caught on something on the ground – a tree root, maybe – and he went sailing into the mud, a strangled grunt escaping his lips when his right shoulder made impact with the ground in the most painful manner.

From the white-hot pain that shot through his arm and shoulder, Kíli knew immediately that this was more than a mere scratch, but he tried to ignore the sickening pain and pushed himself back to his feet, stumbling forward. Upon hearing him cry out in pain when he fell, Tauriel had whipped her head around, and was now scanning the tree-line with a worried frown on her face. His eyes widening in horror, Kíli had just enough time to register one of the orcs running at her from behind and he opened his mouth to warn her, but only got out an unarticulate yelp when, again, his foot caught in some kind of tree root, only this time he could have sworn that it was actually pulling at his foot, causing him to fall forward once more. Without proper use of his right arm, he landed face first on the muddy ground, coughing when he swallowed a mouthful of it.

Hearing Tauriel yell his name from above, he pushed himself up again, mud, rain and blood – where was that coming from? – running into his eyes, making it almost impossible to see. Half running, half crawling forward, he saw Tauriel sway ahead of him, an orc having jumped on her back while the other three were advancing upon her and he cried out in desperation when he watched her fall to her knees with the orc still clinging to her back. He launched himself forward using of all his remaining strength, but was held back by something holding onto his leg in an iron grip, pulling him back.

He tried to see what was lurking behind him in the darkness and kicked at whatever was trying to get a hold of him in panic and frustration. Finally his foot impacted with something that gave a hiss and for a moment he was free. Whirling around to where Tauriel had fallen to the ground only seconds ago, he realized with gut-wrenching dread that she was gone, her or the orcs nowhere to be seen.

"Tauriel!" he screamed, his voice cracking on the last syllable. There was no answering call. Panic closed up his throat and the ground wobbled slightly below his feet as he spun around his own axis, desperately searching his surroundings for any sign of her or their assailants. Then – suddenly – he felt a shove between his shoulder blades and he was falling forward again, only this time not uphill but downhill, the trees around him becoming a jumbled mess at the edge of his vision. He tried to grab onto something that would break his fall, but his hands only found mud and leaves. When his body bounced off a tree, a sharp pain shooting through his ribs, he just thought that it could not get much worse, but then the back of his head hit something hard and sharp with a crack that echoed through his entire body like a clasp of thunder. Everything went black.

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><p>Kíli's head was pretty much made of stone. He knew so because over the years this quality had been put to the test more than once. He had fallen out of trees, tumbled down hills, had once even fallen off a roof, a rather complicated chain of events leading up to this particular incident. All of this had gone without him ever contracting any serious injuries. This time, however, he felt sure that he had finally done some serious damage to his head, the reason for this being the fact that, upon opening his eyes, he saw not one but two moons in the darkness of the sky above him.<p>

He blinked, hoping that the action would normalize his vision, but no, the two white orbs he was seeing refused to merge and stubbornly stared back at him. He frowned, though, when his sight cleared up little by little and he realized that those two white planets were actually staring at him in the literal sense of the word. His thoughts were still quite fuzzy, but eventually he came to the conclusion that what he was seeing were no moons, but eyes - big, watery, blue eyes that fixed him in a cold stare.

He flinched back slightly when, below those unsettlingly large eyes, a wide mouth opened itself, revealing irregular yellow teeth. "Where is it?" a strange voice hissed, drawing out the vowels of each word, and it took Kíli a few seconds to associate the voice he was hearing with the creature crouching above him.

As some clarity returned to his thoughts, he also remembered what had happened right before he had seemingly lost consciousness and he sat up with an agonized groan, roughly shoving the creature leaning over him away, even though the action send sharp waves of pain through his entire upper body. "Tauriel!" He had meant to call out for her, but his voice came out raspy and barely above a whisper.

The creature before him bobbed its head in obvious agitation, its eyes growing even wider. "What?!" it demanded, sounding almost excited. "What is it saying?"

Kíli glanced at the creature in confusion, still having trouble to make out much more than its eyes in the darkness that surrounded him. He could not quite tell what kind of species this was, but he honestly could have cared less, his anxiety over Tauriel's whereabouts cancelling out any other coherent thought. "Tauriel," he croaked, looking around him in desperation, "where is she?"

At this the creature suddenly sprang forward again, thrusting its face into his own. "No, not _SHE_," it cried, its disturbing eyes threatening to pop out of their sockets. "_IT_! Where is it? What did it do with it?"

Kíli recoiled from the stench that wafted off the creature, a combination of fish, moist earth, and rotting flesh. Taking a moment to take in its appearance, small, bony and covered in sickly pale skin, he thought that, to top things off, he now also had to deal with some kind of physically impaired, clearly demented orc. Oh, his luck.

"Leave me alone," he said, scrunching up his face in distaste. "I do not know what you want from me."

He tried to turn away, but the little orc leaped forward quickly and he felt its ice cold hand wrap itself around his throat. "Bagginses!" it screeched. "Where is it? Where did it take it?"

Kíli frowned. "Bag- hold on, what? What are you talking about? Who did what with what?"

The grip of the long fingers on his throat was loosened slightly. Kíli made use of the moment to use his good arm to carefully feel around on the ground next to him for his weapons. He found nothing, but thought that his fingertips brushed against the uneven surface of a rock.

"Bagginses," the creature howled in obvious distress. "It stole it from us. Our precious. Gone, gone, GONE!"

Bagginses. Kíli briefly wondered if the creature could possibly be talking about Bilbo and if yes, what it thought that Bilbo had taken from it. But he knew better than to ask because for one thing he had more important matters on his mind and also this guy did not exactly strike him as a sensible conversational partner. Trying to stretch his arm a little further in order to be able to wrap his fingers around the stone on the ground without the thing on top of him noticing, he shook his head. "I cannot help you. I know nothing of this Bagginses or of any treasure."

"Oh, but it does know!" the creature exclaimed, shaking him by his throat and causing him to fall back flat onto the ground. Cowering on his chest, the creature stared down at him. "It has been with it. Bagginses. We can still _smell_ it. We followed it and the nasty red elf, oh yes, we did. Tell us where Baggins went, TELL US!"

Kíli narrowed his eyes at the creature, a realization forming in his head. "Wait, that was _you_ in the woods before, wasn't it? _You_ pushed me down the slope."

The little orc cackled. "Bumpety bump, down the hill it went. Now it can't help the ugly elf no more."

At that Kíli felt white hot rage surge through his entire body, making him forget the pain in both his head and his right arm and shoulder for a moment. With an angry growl he threw himself to the side, closing his hand around the stone he had been trying to reach and smashed it into the side of the creature's head as hard as he could from his disadvantageous position on the ground.

With a sound not unlike that of an injured animal, the filthy little creature rolled off Kíli's body, immediately scrambled to its legs – or arms and legs, rather – and dashed off into the undergrowth, where Kíli could hear it continue to wail. "It hurt us, oooh, it hurt us badly," it sobbed. And then, its voice suddenly stern, "Shut up! Go back and make it pay for what it did." A pause and then another wail. "But no! What if it hurts us again?"

Despite the anger still hot in his veins, Kíli frowned. Something was seriously wrong with this strange little orc. But he would not stay to find out what it was. Using the rush of adrenaline that the struggle with his maniacal opponent had brought about, he pushed himself to his feet and staggered blindly off into the night.

Looking around frantically, he realized that he did not know where he was. Possibly the creature had dragged him away from where he had originally landed after his fall and so he could not be sure which direction to go into. And even if he had known his exact location, he had no idea where Tauriel was, nor where to begin looking for her. So his best hope was to find a way to return to the Ranger's camp. Maybe, just once more, he would be lucky and would find her there, alive and well.

He tried not to allow any other thoughts into his head, but as he continued his staggering journey through this unfamiliar landscape, fear and panic made it more and more difficult to breathe. Or maybe this shortness of breath was caused by the dull pain in his left side – he was not able to tell his emotional pain and his physical discomfort apart anymore.

Either way, as he reached the top of a slope he had been climbing, hoping to find the Rangers' camp on top of it, he realized in a very painful manner that his sense of direction had been rather off. Because once he reached the top of the steep incline, the ground did not give way to the plain which housed the Ranger's camp, but fell away again immediately instead, and so Kíli, his reflexes more than a little impaired by fatigue and injury, stumbled in the dark and fell downhill for the second time that night. He only hoped that the fall wouldn't be too deep. If only this night would finally end.

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><p><em>To be continued...<em>

_Reviews make my day :)_


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's note: Wow. I was amazed by the responses to the last chapter - thank you so much! Writing Gollum was the most fun I've had in a long time._

_I will go and see the third movie tomorrow - and I'm excited but also terrified. I wanted to get another update out before that, sorry if it does not reveal too much about where this story is headed. I promise that I have some good stuff planned though. And I promise that I will not stop writing, even if the movie will crush my silly heart ;)_

_Here we go._

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><p><span><strong>Chapter VIII<strong>

When Kíli awoke to a world of pain, he allowed himself a moment of self-pity. Truly, had he not had enough of those very painful awakenings in the past year? First pierced by an arrow, poison setting his body on fire, then squashed by a gigantic orc, his ribs splintering like toothpicks under its weight. And now… Kíli, his mind a little hazy, took a moment to assess his surroundings. Yes, what mishap had befallen him this time?

Cracking his eyes open a little, he half expected to find his brother next to his bed, keeping vigilant watch at his sickbed as he had done so many times over the years. But no, Fíli was not there, and Kíli remembered with a stab of disappointment that it would not make sense for him to be, since they had parted ways months ago.

That was when the events of the previous night came rushing back to him – an orc raid, him and Tauriel fighting side by side to protect the Rangers' camp, them getting separated, injuring his shoulder, injuring his _head_, a disturbing encounter with a skinny little orc, stumbling through the woods, searching for Tauriel, and- his heart sank when he remembered the end of his nightly adventure. He had never found her.

Ignoring the agonizing pain that the action caused to explode in his upper body as well as the dull throbbing behind his eyes that had been there ever since waking up, Kíli pushed himself into a sitting position, looking around half-crazy with worry. He was in a tent that undoubtedly belonged to the settlement of the Rangers and that was, to his horror, empty aside from the bed he was resting on. All he could think about was that if Tauriel were well or had at least been found, she would surely be here with him, either waiting for him to wake up or recovering from an injury as well. But there was no other bed and no sign of her having been there. This could mean two things – one was too painful to even think about and the other was that she was still missing.

Kíli swung his legs off the bed and tried his best to breathe through the wave of nausea that washed over him when his blood rushed from his head and the pain in various parts of his body threatened to overwhelm him. Standing next to the bed, swaying slightly, he localized his clothes and other possessions on a nearby chair and took a couple of deep breaths to stop his head from spinning. Pushing himself away from the bed he took a step and then another, waiting for the ground to become steadier beneath his wobbly legs. No, this would not work, he realized when the interior of the tent was suddenly tilted sideways and his vision became foggy. Dropping to his knees before he could fall and do more damage to his body than had already been done, he swallowed against bile rising in his throat, fearing that he was going to be sick from the pain and the dizziness, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

"Goodness gracious. Quickly, help me get him back to his bed before he hurts himself." Kneeling on the ground, he heard a female voice penetrate the haze surrounding his senses and soon felt a couple of capable hands grab him under his arm pits, lifting him off the ground. Two people he could only see as if through a dense fog supported his weight and slowly led him back to the bed and helped him lay back down on it.

"Can't stay," he muttered, trying immediately to sit back up despite the fact that he could scarcely see anything and immediately felt a fresh wave of nausea wash over him.

"Well, considering the state you are in, I fear that you will have to," the female voice returned, two pairs of hands gently and yet firmly holding him down. "Fennion, be a dear and hand me that bowl over there," the unfamiliar woman addressed the person to Kíli's left. A few seconds later, a cup was brought to his lips. "Here, drink this."

Kíli tried to turn his head away, moaning in protest, but his head was being held in place by the same hands that had restrained him previously and a pungent liquid was forced down his throat, leaving a burning taste on his tongue. He coughed and the action made his ribs hurt, tears stinging in the corners of his eyes. Little by little, however, his vision cleared and his breathing became calmer and more controlled.

He blinked a couple of times and slowly the two people leaning over him came into focus. To his left was Finn, his face pale and frightened. On his other side the owner of the female voice smiled down on him. "There, that is much better, do you not think?"

Kíli thought he had seen the woman in the Rangers' camp before, but they had not been formally introduced. Now that he saw her next to Finn, however, he knew right away that she was his mother and thus Fendir's wife. Her hair and eyes were of a much lighter shade than those of her son and husband, but Finn had clearly inherited her full lips and her broad, smooth cheeks. She was a handsome but by no means delicate woman and something in her eyes told Kíli that she was just as fierce a mother as she was a fighter. Immediately, Kíli was reminded of his own mother.

"I am Théa, wife of Fendir. My son, I believe, you have already met," she said when she noticed Kíli looking her over.

Kíli nodded and took a careful breath, trying not to expand his ribcage too much. "Tauriel," he croaked, looking up at Théa with pleading eyes. "Where is she?"

He prepared himself for the worst when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Finn's face grow even paler and watched Théa's forehead crease with worry. "You were found two days ago on the riverbank. The men who found you brought you here directly. There was no sign of your friend near you – or anywhere else for that matter." Kíli saw pity in her eyes and was dimly aware of her hand squeezing his in a comforting gesture.

Upon hearing that last sentence, he released a breath he had not known he was holding with a sigh that bordered on a sob. This was bad, but not nearly as bad as it would have been had they found her blood or, immeasurably worse, her body. He sat up, more carefully this time, and was not restrained although he noticed Théa watching him carefully. "Then she must still be out there," he said, his voice a little shaky. "I must search for her right away, find out what happened…"

Théa shook her fair head. "As you have just demonstrated to us and to yourself, you will not be going anywhere in the immediate future." Kíli opened his mouth to protest, but she continued without heeding him. "You have suffered quite a blow to the back of your head, your shoulder was dislocated and there is some serious bruising on your upper body, although I think, miraculously, no rib was broken. I am surprised you are even awake."

Kíli looked down and noticed for the first time that his chest and his right shoulder had been bound. Lifting a head to gingerly touch the back of his head, he winced when even the slightest contact of his fingers against his skull caused a flash of pain. He looked back at Théa with hopeless desperation. "You don't understand," he said. "I cannot lie in bed while Tauriel is out there on her own. She might be hurt, she might…" He slumped forward, unable to continue, and pressed his hands to his face.

He felt Théa's hand on his back. It seemed that she was going to speak, but Finn beat her to it. "Father and some of the others are out securing the perimeter of the camp," he said. "If there is a trail they _will_ find it."

Kíli turned his head to look at him. "How long have they been gone?" His voice sounded hollow even to his own ears.

"Ever since the last of the orcs were driven away," Finn said. "They brought you back in the morning and set out again right after."

"You said it had been two days," Kíli said, looking at Théa. "Shouldn't they have found something by now?"

The worried look that Finn sent his mother did not escape Kíli's notice. Lying back on the bed in defeat, he could not help but think how utterly useless he was. Had he not sworn to himself that he would protect Tauriel at any cost? And instead he had not only allowed her to be captured, but had managed to put himself in a state where he was unable to go after her.

Unable for now, he thought grimly when Théa left and returned with a bowl of soup. The smell of food was making his stomach turn, but he sat up and forced himself to eat all of it, not even resisting when his nurse spoon-fed him. He would regain as much of his strength as was possible within as short a time as was absolutely necessary and then he would set off after Tauriel, with or without his hosts' consent, he did not care. And until then he would ignore the looks of pity by those attending to him and would tell himself that she was alright and he would find her eventually. If he had to, he would keep looking forever.

When Kíli stepped out of the tent two days later the sun was glaring down from a bright blue sky as if to mock him in his misery. He shielded his eyes with his hand, a simple movement which still cost him a disturbingly large amount of energy. He knew he shouldn't be out here, but there was no way he would continue to lie around and wait for something to happen. If he passed out in front of the whole camp then so be it, he could hardly feel more of a failure than he already did.

He quickly turned into the other direction when he saw Théa put down a basket of laundry several tents away and stomp towards him with her hands on her hips, a look of strong disapproval on her face. He would not be able to hide from her forever, but maybe he would at least be able to gather some information about what had been happening in the camp during the past two days, because he was sure that there were things that his hosts where not telling him.

He longed to speak with Fendir, knowing that of all the Rangers he would be the most likely to understand why he could not afford to waste a single second in which he could be looking for Tauriel. Not only was Fendir aware of Tauriel's condition, but he also had at least some idea of what Tauriel and Kíli meant to each other, of some of the obstacles they had been confronted with in their past. But whenever Kíli asked about him, he was told that he still had not returned from his mission.

Rounding the corner of another tent as quickly as he could, his heart leaped into his throat for a second when he saw a tall male figure clad in green heading into his direction. But then he saw that this was not Fendir as he had hoped for a moment, but Rúthon, one of the Rangers who had been very outspoken in his reluctance towards a friendship between the Dwarves of Erebor and the Dúnedain of the North, his hope quickly dwindled.

He was surprised, however, when Rúthon really did make his way towards him and stopped in front of him, clearly trying to keep his face neutral as he addressed him. "I need you to come with me."

Kíli frowned. "Why? Where?" He sincerely hoped this was not about any more prejudices or grudges that he knew some of the men held. He obviously had a great number of other things on his mind right now.

"You'll see," the Ranger responded mysteriously, clearly taking pleasure in leaving Kíli in the dark about something he knew. "Come on."

When Kíli refused to budge and stared at him with narrowed eyes, Rúthon shook his head, muttering something about the stubbornness of dwarves. "There is someone here who would like to speak with you," he then added. "They will not stay long, so will you _please_ follow me?" He smirked arrogantly and Kíli grudgingly fell into step beside him, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Has Fendir returned?" he asked, even though he did not really expect the surly Ranger to impart any useful information to him.

"No," Rúthon replied and Kíli thought he would leave it at that, but then he added, "We did receive word from him and the others though. But since I will have to recount all that anyway in a minute or so, I would prefer it if you could wait until then."

Kíli's heart sped up. Did this mean that there was news? Good ones? And who had come that would want to speak to _him_ of all people? The rest of his walk with Rúthon was spent in silence, Kíli trying his best to keep up and not let on how much the situation affected him both physically and emotionally.

Reaching the larger tent in which Kíli and Tauriel had attended the Rangers' gathering a few nights ago, Rúthon held the flaps of the entrance open, gesturing for Kíli to step through. Kíli entered the tent with a nervous flutter in his stomach, hoping that whoever it was that was waiting for him would not give him any more trouble than he already found himself in.

Inside the tent, a few tall figures were leaning over a table, studying a document of some sorts. Kíli recognized the older Ranger from a few nights ago among them. From Finn he had learned in the meantime that his name was Hírannon and that he held some authority among the men. The other people present Kíli did not immediately recognize, but he saw right away that they were no Rangers of the North. Their uniforms were different from the green cloaks the men in the camp wore. Different and yet vaguely familiar.

When one of the men leaning over the table turned around, Kíli immediately understood where he had seen those uniforms before. Rivendell.

"L- Lord Elrond," he stammered, not quite having expected this turn of events.

"Kíli, nephew to Thorin Oakenshield," the lord of Rivendell returned, gazing down on Kíli with a friendly expression. "It is good to see you again."

Kíli dropped his gaze, a little confused. "I am surprised you remember me," he said. During their time at Rivendell, he had never had any direct interaction with the ancient elf.

Elrond raised an eyebrow in surprise and amusement. "You were a guest at my house," he said. "What host would I be to not remember you and your name?"

Kíli swallowed, hoping that the elf's memory was not as good when it came to the state of their quarters at Rivendell after they had left. Frankly, things had gotten _a little_ out of hand back there, the company bored from a lack of proper entertainment and keyed up from a lack of things to do.

Mumbling something incomprehensible, Kíli tried to cover up his embarrassment by stepping up to the table in order to see what Elrond and the others were looking at. A map of the Angle, from what he could judge. Elrond turned back around as well and smoothed the parchment with his palm. "We met a group of Rangers north of here yesterday. They spoke of a severe orc raid in their camp and we came to see if our assistance is needed," he explained. Looking down at Kíli he added, "From what I gather the situation is under control, but you could use our help. A friend gone missing, I understand?"

Kíli hesitated. "Well, I am not entirely sure what happened that night. We were fighting together and I saw her struggle but then I got injured and…" He trailed of, feeling even more of an idiot hearing himself tell someone else about the events of that night.

"Her? I see." Elrond smiled knowingly. "Then it is a dwarf-maid we are looking for. Although I hear the difference is not immediately apparent to anyone outside the dwarven race..." H trailed off.

Kíli wondered briefly if he should take offence at that statement, but then decided to save his disdain for Rúthon who rolled his eyes and gave a sarcastic snort, muttering, "Oh, now here comes the best part."

Kíli glared at the Ranger before looking back at Elrond who seemed confused by Rúthon's interjection and Kíli's reaction to it. "Well, you see…" Bugger. How was he going to explain this? "I was travelling with neither dwarf nor dwarf-maid," he finally said. Better to just get it out in the open. "But with one of your kind. Or well, maybe not your kind exactly. A wood-elf. Her name is Tauriel." Was he rambling? It seemed to himself that he was.

Elrond was silent for a long moment, his eyebrows knitted together in contemplation of what Kíli had just revealed. Then his eyes suddenly widened in apparent understanding. "The deserter," he breathed. "I see."

Now it was Kíli's turn to be surprised. "You know of her?"

Elrond grinned almost a little wickedly. "Not by name, no. But I have heard of a wood-elf, an acclaimed soldier, disappearing off the face of the earth right under her king's nose." When Kíli raised his eyebrows, he added, "We live for an eternity, my young friend. Of course we gossip."

Despite himself, Kíli felt the corners of his mouth twitch at the image of the lofty, dignified elves of Rivendell sitting together over a cup of tea and having a right gossip, like he remembered his great aunt and her girlfriends do during his childhood in the Blue Mountains. "So Gandalf did not tell you about us travelling the Angle when he came to Rivendell with Bilbo?" he asked in an effort to keep a straight face.

Elrond shook his head. "He did not. Or maybe he did, just not in so many words…" The elf frowned, lost in thought, but then shook himself, coming back to the matter at hand. "Be that as it may. So Tauriel of the Woodland Realm went missing the night of the orc raid. Is there a trail?"

Kíli, surprised by the elf's immediate acceptance of the fact that he had been travelling Middle Earth together with an elf-maid, made to answer, but was interrupted by Rúthon. "There was," the Ranger said. Kíli stared at him, outraged that no one had thought it necessary to tell him about that circumstance. If he had known that there was a trail to follow, he could have… No, he couldn't have, he realized. And that was probably why he had not been told – to spare him the torment of knowing that his injuries prevented him from going after Tauriel. Or to stop him from doing just that.

Rúthon continued with a cautious glance at the young dwarf who had seemed about to flare up for a second, but had deflated just as quickly. "We have had word from Fendir that they have followed the trail to the River. They have attempted to determine whether it continues on the other side, but to no success. It all but disappears."

There was silence while several pairs of eyes stared at the spot on the map that Rúthon indicated with his finger.

"Maybe they went _into_ the river," Kíli muttered more to himself than to anyone else. "And let it carry them downstream."

Elrond frowned. "I never saw an orc particularly fond of water."

Kíli shrugged. "It just seems to be the obvious answer. They could have used a boat of some sorts."

"I believe the dwarf might be onto something," Rúthon threw in, grudgingly acknowledging that Kíli might be right. "But that also means that if the pack really used the current of the river to their advantage, they might by now have made it much further south than we presumed. They might already be out of our reach."

Elrond thoughtfully looked at the map for another few moments. "Our horses are fast," he then said. "We might still catch up with them – if downstream is really where they have travelled."

He looked at both Hírannon and Rúthon, who both nodded grimly. Kíli looked between the two men and the elf, amazed by their willingness to go after an orc pack that did not even pose a direct threat to them or their people anymore. But he would not question their motives if that increased his chances of getting Tauriel back. "Let me ride with you," he addressed Elrond.

The elf pressed his lips together. "No," he then said firmly, causing Kíli's heart to sink. "You seem in no state to travel."

Kíli shook his head. "Please," he urged. "I can ride with one of you. Tie me onto a horse if you have to. Just don't let me stay here, doing _nothing_."

Elrond leaned down, putting a hand on his shoulder. His face was full of pity and only now Kíli realized that he was shaking, his brow covered by a fine sheen of cold sweat. He probably _did _look like hell. "Rest, Kíli," Elrond said. "If there is a way for us to find your friend, trust me that we will. I do not want to risk your health by taking you with us, nor do I want to risk you slowing us down."

Well, at least he was being honest about it. But still, this was the second time within a couple of months that Kíli was in this exact same situation. Left behind, judged to be unfit for travel. Only this time, he did not want to come along for his own sake, but for someone else's.

Fine, he thought grimly. If they did not want to take him with them, he would have to find a way to go on his own. He had done enough sitting around.

Nodding curtly to Elrond, he said, "Thank you for your assistance, Lord Elrond. I wish you good luck in your search."

The elf frowned down at him with an expression of worry and he knew that it was not polite to stomp out of a tent full of people who had just offered their help, but did so anyway. He had a journey to prepare for, after all, and did not want to waste anymore time.

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><p><em>tbc...<em>

_You'll learn about what happened to Tauriel right at the beginning of the next chapter. Promise!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Author's note: A speedy update - haven't had one of those in a while! It's a thank you for the many lovely reviews that I received and also a bit of therapy for myself after seeing BOTFA... _

_As some of you have probably guessed, Kíli and Tauriel will once again be spending a little time away from each other in my story. I promise though that I have some interesting stuff planned on each side, so bear with me :)_

_Dislcaimer: I do not own The Hobbit or any of its characters._

**Chapter IX**

Tauriel was seething. Captured by an insultingly small number of not overly capable orcs – this was a wound to her pride she was not sure she would recover from easily. The very principle that she had been taught during Thranduil's rearing of her as one of his most lethal soldiers had, once again, been proven true when she had fallen to her knees under the weight of the reeking orc on her back, making it easy for the others to approach her and overwhelm her. Love was weakness.

The moment that she had heard Kíli scream out in pain she had let her guard down, had become distracted. Which was why a soldier did not love – a soldier cared, a soldier was loyal and brave, but never fell in love. Tauriel sighed inwardly. She did not blame herself though, nor Kíli for what had happened. She was not the same elf anymore that Thranduil had brought up and that Legolas had trained. And while she acknowledged that her love for Kíli had once again been her downfall, she would never let herself be convinced that her love was not also a source of strength, one that would keep her going, would make keep her fighting , no matter how bleak her situation.

Feeling her throat constrict with the rush of feelings that these thought brought with them – fear, worry, yearning – Tauriel quickly reached for the raging fury that was still burning in her, knowing that her current plight would be much easier to endure if she did not give herself over to despair. It helped a little that, deep down, she could feel that Kíli was alright. Hurt, possibly, but yet alive. Had she had any doubt of that, in the name of the gods, she knew not if she might not have done something desperate in the meantime. As it was, the connection that they had shared ever since her healing of him at Laketown had, if anything, become intensified during the months they had travelled together. Maybe the cause for this was his child growing inside of her, but Tauriel had felt many times that her connection to Kíli had long since exceeded the natural, the realm of mere intuition, and while they had not shared a dream in a long time, there was a place inside of her where she could _feel_ him, where she could sense his presence and to some extent also his own feelings. Even now, that he was far away from her.

Far away indeed. Tauriel could only estimate the amount of time that had passed since she had been taken, but it had been two whole days at least, possibly more, and during this time her capturers had not stopped and had travelled with as much speed as the additional baggage of a fully grown she-elf allowed them.

Why they had not killed her, Tauriel could only guess. The one that had brought her down, back there at the edge of the woods near the Rangers' camp, had already had his blood stained, curved blade against her throat, but had been stopped by another, taller orc who appeared to be the one in command. He had spat a few words in their own, unmelodic language of which Tauriel had understood but one: _Master_.

From this exchange and the smaller orc's reluctant withdrawal of his blade, Tauriel had gathered that the pack was under someone's command and that they intended to bring her to them. Before she had had time to process this and to ask herself what that someone could possibly want with her, the orcs had her tied down, gagged and blindfolded and she had felt herself being hoisted up and dragged off. This, she had to admit, they were quite good at. Typical for their race, she thought, cowards on the battlefield, but quite apt at everything that had to do with deviousness and deceit. Such as kidnapping.

A mere year ago, she would not have allowed this to happen, would have resisted such treatment with every ounce of strength in her body, even if that would have meant risking to be killed in the process. But a new sense of self-preservation had made her refrain from putting up too much of a struggle – it simply was too risky. She was outnumbered and while a handful of orcs would normally hardly have posed a challenge, facing them without her weapons seemed unwise. The child growing in her belly was a delicate, fragile thing which she knew she must protect, even if that meant sacrificing her pride.

So Tauriel had forced herself to remain relatively quiet – which had taken all of her self-control – and had told herself that she would wait for a moment where she could strike. And this moment would come, eventually, and then she would have her revenge for being humiliated like this.

The days since, she had spent trying to judge where they were headed by the direction from which she could feel the sun shine upon her skin. It seemed that, after a period of going south, her capturers had turned east. Also, while at first they had travelled down the river on some kind of vessel, they had eventually reverted to journeying on foot. Tauriel's blindfold had yet to be removed, but she was under the distinct impression that the pack had grown in number since they had left and she suspected that those orcs that had escaped the camp of the Dúnedain alive were now rejoining the group. During the nights she had resisted sleep, even though her body was exhausted and longed for the rest she had grown used to, and had instead tried to listen in on the conversations being held around her, hoping to catch something that might help her prepare for where she was being taken. So far, this had been unsuccessful.

On what had to be the third night of her forced journey, the pack stopped and Tauriel was surprised to be put down quite roughly, with her back against the trunk of a tree. Her blindfold was yanked off her head and she blinked in confusion, her eyes unused to the flood of images after her prolonged, artificial blindness.

An orc was crouched before her, eyeing her with disgust. "Bite me and I will bite you back, elvish filth," he growled, before reaching out to remove her gag.

Tauriel pressed her lips together and glared at the orc once the dirty rag that had been stuffed between her lips was finally removed. She swallowed the many curses that were on her tongue, hoping that her silence might spare a renewed gagging later.

The orc, seemingly pleased by what he had to perceive of as obedience by his prisoner, reached out for something on the ground and shoved it into her mouth. "Eat," he hissed, before turning around and sitting down a few yards away, taking out his blade to begin sharpening it.

The bread that had been thrust between Tauriel's lips tasted moldy and for a moment she was afraid that her stomach might turn, offensive tastes and smells recently affecting her more strongly than they used to. Telling herself that she would need to preserve her strength for the day when she would strike back, she forced herself to fight her nausea and slowly chewed the bread, trying not to breathe through her nose while she did so.

When the orc keeping watch over her looked over and saw that she had finished her 'meal,' he came back over and held a canteen of water a couple of inches above her head, forcing her to lean back in order to catch a few sips from the trickle he let pour from it.

Water running down her chin, wetting the front of her tunic, Tauriel glared at the creature towering above her. "Why not just let me starve?" she asked.

The orc cackled. "The master likes them well-nourished and in perfect condition."

Tauriel narrowed her eyes, not liking that she was spoken off as if she were a piece of goods. "Whom do you serve?"

Her question only earned her another malignant chuckle. "You will be introduced soon enough. And now shut up and let me get back to work, nosy scum. Another sound from you and that gag goes back in."

Tauriel stared daggers at the retreating back of her guard, hoping that he would at the very least cut his finger on that ugly blade he was sharpening. Or better, chop off his entire hand.

Leaning back against the tree, Tauriel tried to get comfortable – which was not easy with her hands bound tightly behind her back. Even though the attempt had proved futile several times before, she once more tested her binds, trying to see if she really could not break them. After a few minutes she gave up, not wanting to draw the guard's attention with her constant shuffling and let her gaze swerve over the camp that her capturers were setting up for the night.

She had been right – their numbers had increased. Drastically so. Tauriel counted twenty-three of them in total. No, make that twenty-two, she corrected herself when she watched two of them argue over the carcass of a rabbit, one of them plunging his blade into the other's chest, effectively ending the argument.

Tauriel groaned inwardly and let her head fall back against the tree trunk. How, yes _how_ could she have let herself be overpowered by members of a race that was so utterly dimwitted and lacked any sense of integrity?

Focusing her eyes on the stars in the sky, she spoke to Kíli in her thoughts, thinking that maybe there was a chance that he could hear her or at least feel her there like she could feel him. _Do not worry about me, my love, s_he said, _it is only a matter of time before I will return to you. I merely need to be patient and wait for the right moment. Please don't do anything stupid and reckless in the meantime, will you?_

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><p>Carefully Kíli lifted the fabric which constituted the back wall of his tent and peered into the darkness beyond. All seemed quiet. From what he judged it would only take him a few steps over open ground until he would be able to disappear between trees and rocks, making himself invisible to anyone who might come looking for him.<p>

Lowering the fabric, he turned around and took a moment to assess the things he had assembled and prepared for transport. Thankfully his bow and his sword had been left at his side during his recovery, his hosts probably trusting that he would not be able to use either for yet a while. Those were the two most important items he was going to be carrying, the blanket, spare clothing, and what little food he had managed to hide away during the day completing his gear. He intended to travel quickly and would leave everything behind that might slow him down.

He looked at the small bag next to his bed which contained Tauriel's possessions, his heart heavy when his eyes grazed over the moss-green fabric of her spare outfit. He was almost tempted to bring the bag with him to soothe the yearning pain in his heart that had become a constant companion over the last few days. Mahal, how he _missed_ her, her touch, her scent, her voice. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he told himself that he should not waste time nor energy brooding over his love's worldly possessions and should instead do his utmost to reunite her speedily with her things.

Which was exactly what he planned to do. Casting another glance at the entrance to his tent, he calculated that it would be at least an hour before Théa would be back to check on him. She had brought him his dinner half an hour ago and had sat with him for a while, before heading off to join the rest of the camp for their communal dinner. He hoped that by the time she returned, he would have put enough distance between himself and the camp to ensure that no one would be sent out to bring him back. With several of the men out scouting the lands after the attack, they would surely not risk to further weaken their defense in favor of the safety of one stray dwarf, would they?

Taking one last look around the tent, not entirely able to quench a little sting of guilt at the thought what Théa and Finn would think when they found it empty later that night, Kíli hoisted his gear onto his left shoulder and ducked under the wall of the tent.

Outside, he took a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darkness before sprinting across the stretch of land that divided the camp from the tree line as quietly as possible. He made it to the trees without incident and quickly sought cover, stopping to catch his breath. His head was pounding from the sudden exertion and he pressed his palms to his temples, waiting for the sickening pain to subside. Deep down, he knew that Elrond had been right – he should not be travelling in his state. But what he _should_ do and what he would end up doing had always been two separate things for Kíli and as long as his legs worked – which, thankfully, they did – he would go after Tauriel. He would just have to be careful and try to keep up a steady pace without pushing his battered body too hard.

Taking a couple of slow, deep breaths, Kíli was just about to set out again when he realized with a sinking feeling that he was not alone. Someone was near and they were in all likelihood following him. Holding his breath, he waited until the other presence was very, very close to him, before jumping out behind the tree he had been leaning against, prepared to tackle his pursuer should it turn out to be an enemy.

"Finn!" he exclaimed when he recognized the young boy who jumped in surprise and promptly fell onto his backside.

Looking down at the young Dúnedain in exasperation, Kíli put his hands on his hips. "Finn, what are you doing here?"

The dark haired boy looked up at him with an odd combination of fear and determination written over his face. "I have noticed you acting strangely all day," he said, almost but not quite succeeding in keeping a tremor out of his voice. "I figured out that you were trying to leave us."

Kíli sighed. Stepping forward he held his good arm out to the boy, pulling him up when he took it. "Well, you were right, if that is what you are trying to prove here."

Finn brushed some dirt off his clothes, looking at Kíli with hesitation. "No," he said, "that is not why I followed you. I want to come with you."

Kíli's eyebrows shot up in surprise and for a moment he did not quite know what to say. But then he resolutely shook his head. "No, Finn, that is out of the question. Go back and be with your people, with your mother. It is there that you belong."

He made to turn back around, but Finn reached out and grasped his arm, his _right_ arm. Kíli yelped in pain and Finn immediately let go, his eyes wide. "I'm so sorry! I forgot about your shoulder."

Kíli rubbed his arm, his brow furrowed. "It's fine," he muttered to the boy who was now standing before him, his shoulders drooping. He sighed again, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Look, this is not your battle to fight," he said. "I have no idea where I am going or what awaits me there, but I have no choice. I _must_ go. But I will not risk anybody else by taking them with me, least of all you."

Finn lifted his eyes to Kíli's again, his gaze defiant. "You told me that there would come a time where I could prove the man I was," he said. "This is it. I want to come with you to save the Lady Tauriel."

This time, Kíli did roll his eyes. "Finn, this is not a game where the hero saves the damsel in distress. Neither is it some kind of a lesson. I have no time for this, do you understand?"

Finn nodded, determined. "Aye, I do understand. Which is why we should be on our way instead of standing around, talking."

He made to walk past Kíli who quickly reached out and grasped him by the sleeve of his shirt, yanking him back around. Pulling himself up to his full height, he stared at the boy. "Finn, I am serious. Go back now and let me do what I have to do."

The boy pursed his lips. "No."

They stared at each other for a couple more seconds, Kíli trying to put on his most menacing gaze. The boy flinched a little, but did not back down and returned his stare quite stubbornly. "Unless you drag me back, you won't get rid of me," the boy said. "I will simply continue to follow you."

In many ways, he reminded Kíli of himself standing up to his mother, brother, and uncle on oh so many occasions, trying to make them see that they were being quite overprotective of him, begging them to let him go and make his own experiences and learn from his own mistakes.

Eventually Kíli sighed and backed down. "Fine," he said a little sourly, annoyed that someone else had bested him – _him_! – at the art of being stubborn. "But if you slow me down, do not think that I will hesitate to leave you behind."

A pleased grin spread across the boy's face and he nodded enthusiastically. "I won't. I promise!"

Adjusting his pack on his shoulder, he took a few steps deeper into the trees, turning around to look at Kíli expectantly. Kíli exhaled a breath of defeat and made to follow the boy. "I cannot believe I am allowing this. Your father will have my head on a spike for it," he grumbled.

Finn grinned. "It is my mother that I would be worried about."

Kíli stopped dead and raised his eyebrows at the boy whose grin faded. "Forget it," he spluttered, quickly turning back around before Kíli could change his mind and drag him back to camp. "This way, I think," he said, setting out downhill.

Kíli cast a last look at the Rangers' camp, its fires glowing in the distance. He hoped to the gods that he was not going to regret his decision to take the boy with him. Not that he had had much of a choice, he thought with a fair amount of exasperation as he turned to follow his newly acquired young traveling companion into the night.

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><p><em>To be continued soon. Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, favoriting!<em>


	10. Chapter 10

_Author's note: First of all - thank you all so much for the many wonderful reviews and all the encouragement that I recieved over the past couple of weeks. I was quite overwhelmed and touched by the amount of feedback I got since the third movie came out. I am glad that many of you found some consolation in my stories after watching BOFA - this is exactly why i am writing this._

_Which leads me to my second point, namely that I feel terrible for not updating for so long! I have not given up on this story, not by far. But with Christmas and all kinds of family obligations - well, you know how it is. But I am back now and intend to get back to updating weekly._

_Hope you enjoy this chapter - and Happy New Year to all of you!_

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><p><strong><span>Chapter X<span>  
><strong>

Orcs were not the most intelligent of races. Tauriel had had enough experience with their kind to know this. They were driven by their instincts and lacked all self-control, which made it easy for their adversaries to trick them, to provoke them in order to gain the upper hand in battle. Her capturers, she had to give them this, did however not underestimate the skill of an elf-warrior when they saw one, and were careful to not allow her any leeway that might give her a chance to overpower them.

Determined not to let her own temper get the better of her, she had endured their treatment of her, her arms and legs bound, her eyes blindfolded for the majority of their journey through unknown lands. Thankfully she had not been gagged again, except for a short period of time when she had let her tongue be provoked by the insults that had been thrown at her, resulting in a series of curses she had not known even existed in her vocabulary.

Her limbs hurting from a lack of movement and her eyes now accustomed to a perpetual darkness, Tauriel felt a change of her surroundings with the senses still left to her on the fourth night of her enforced journey. The air around her became considerably cooler and damper while simultaneously the sounds of nature became muffled. Aside from those sensual perceptions, she thought that she felt a darkness surround her that had less to do with an absence of sight and more with a heightened presence of evil. She had clearly been brought to a building of some kind and, judging by the cold, humid air that enveloped her, she would have guessed that they had gone somewhere underground.

She swallowed against a sense of ill-boding and tried to inconspicuously flex her muscles so that, if required, she would be able to engage in a physical confrontation without delay. What she had not been prepared for, however, was that first the bindings on her feet and then those on her hands were cut loose, the blindfold roughly yanked off her head, and she was being shoved into a dark room that smelled of mold and decay before she had time to even flinch.

She whirled around, prepared to launch herself at whoever had just pushed her, but a heavy door made of wood and iron was slammed into her face, leaving her confused and breathless, her palms resting against the narrow doorframe.

Turning back around again Tauriel pressed her back against the door, partly to see if it might budge, partly to ensure that no one could sneak up behind her, and tried to assess the cell she had been thrown into. To her dismay she was not able to see much more than she had with her eyes still bound, the room almost completely dark with only a faint, grayish light entering through a slit high up in a wall made of stone.

She took a few moments to calm both her breath and her mind and strained her senses to feel for any other presences in the damp, cold room. As she grew perfectly still, her breaths barely lifting her chest, she realized that, yes, there was someone there with her. Or some_thing_.

Tauriel steeled herself for the possibility of an attack when suddenly she heard a voice pierce the darkness of the room, feeble and scared. "_Who is there_?" it said.

Tauriel gasped, not so much because of the words that she heard, but in which language they were uttered. _Sindarin_. And not only that, but she also knew the voice that spoke them, even though she would never have expected to hear it again, least of all in this dark, forsaken place.

"Nimwen?" she choked out, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. Carefully she advanced into the room, hands stretched out before her. All she heard from the darkness was a little sob before she felt fingers slide between hers and ere she knew it, a pair of slender arms was thrown around her neck, drawing her into a tight embrace.

"Tauriel," the young elleth who had cared for Tauriel back in Thranduil's halls and had become her friend during this time cried out. "It really is you."

Completely perplexed, Tauriel held her friend in her arms, at a loss for words. When she found her voice again, she gently pried Nimwen's arms from around her neck and looked at her as closely as the sparse light in the room allowed. From what she could see in the almost darkness, the young elven healer seemed fine – physically at least. Her eyes had a haunted expression about them, though.

Tauriel took her distraught friend's face between her hands and spoke to her in their own language. "Nimwen, what are you doing here? Why are you not back home, in the Greenwood?" The fluid, soft sounds of her own tongue sounded strange to her ears and felt foreign in her mouth. So long had it been since she had last spoken it, those very few sentences exchanged between the Dúnedain and her set aside.

Nimwen cast her eyes down and inhaled a shaky breath, her eyes brimming with tears. "I am such a fool, Tauriel," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. A couple of fat tears rolled down her cheeks and it took her a few moments to regain her composure. Tauriel waited patiently, forgetting, for a moment, about all the questions she was supposed to be asking her friend. Where were they? What was their purpose here? "I thought I could be like you," Nimwen finally said, her voice small.

Tauriel frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked, genuinely confused. And then, with a sense of dread settling in her stomach, "Nimwen, what did you do?"

A sob escaped the young healer and she tried to avert her face, but Tauriel gently took her by her shoulders to make her look at her again. "My dear girl," she said, her voice much softer than before, "what did you do?"

Nimwen took a couple of calming breaths. When she spoke her voice was small and a little hollow. "I realized that he would never look at me the way he looks at you. Not in a thousand years."

Tauriel knitted her eyebrows together. "Who?" she asked. But then, before Nimwen could answer, realization settled in her stomach like a cold, heavy weight. "Legolas."

The young elf-maid's breath hitched on a small sob. "I thought that maybe after you left with the dwarf he would…" her voice trailed off.

Tauriel knew not what to say. Of course she had known that her friend had a soft spot for Legolas and maybe a small part of her had hoped that one day the two of them would grow closer. But she should have known better, should have known that the thought was unlikely to so much as enter Legolas' head. She had known him for the greatest part of her life and while he was in general not affected by his status as prince of the Woodland Realm, he went through life without taking too much notice of those around him, those below him – Tauriel herself being one of the few exceptions to this. The young healer would not have left much of a mark on him, much less would she have sparked his interest. "Oh Nimwen," she mumbled, at a loss of things to say that would comfort her friend.

Nimwen took a shaky breath. "The more time passed, the more I felt that I needed to get away, that I needed to put some distance between me and him before it was too late, before I would not be able to put this behind me." She paused, looking slightly embarrassed. "So I packed my things and left, telling myself that maybe there would be a place where I could find happiness that was _not_ Mirkwood. Telling myself that I could have an adventure of my own…" She trailed off, her gaze growing distant and unfocused.

Tauriel squeezed her friend's shoulder to bring her back to the present. "What happened?"

Nimwen sighed. "Well, I did not get very far, as you can probably imagine." She looked around herself. "I traveled South but was captured by a band of orcs after a mere could of days." She laughed mirthlessly. "It's probably just as well. I was miserable out there on my own, Tauriel."

Tauriel drew her closer and gave a little sigh of her own. "My dear friend," she said. "I am glad we have found each other, despite those terrible circumstances." Nimwen did not reply, but from the tightening of her embrace, Tauriel knew that she felt the same.

When Tauriel felt that her friend had calmed down sufficiently, she took a step back and looked at Nimwen in the little light that their prison supplied. "Tell me," she said, "what place is this that we have been brought to? What is our purpose here?"

Nimwen pressed her lips together. "I do not quite know," she replied. "They brought me out every couple of days ever since I got here…" She fell silent, frowning.

Tauriel swallowed against a sudden dryness in her throat. "Did they… hurt you, Nimwen? Torture you for information of some kind?" The thought of the young, innocent healer being physically hurt seemed so terrible, so _wrong_ that Tauriel felt anger rise inside of her like a raging flame. Nimwen, while strong and brave in her own way, was not a warrior and Tauriel feared that she would not be able to cope with such cruelty if it was dealt to her.

To her immense relief her young friend shook her head, albeit hesitantly. "No," she said, "I would not call it that." She paused, as if trying to find the right words to explain what had happened. When she looked at Tauriel again, there was fear in her eyes. "Tauriel, there is someone here who commands those orcs, but he himself is no orc."

Tauriel frowned. "A man then?"

Nimwen shrugged. "I think he is. He acts mysteriously, as if he were a sorcerer of some kind, but I felt no _genuine_ power in his presence. Just a certain… _madness_ of the spirit."

This had to be the 'master' that had been mentioned to her before. "What does he want with us?" Tauriel asked.

"I wish I could tell you," Nimwen responded. "At first he was not unfriendly, at least not entirely. But soon he seemed to grow impatient with me, even though I have never been told what to do, how to act or what they want with me here."

She seemed to become increasingly distressed and so Tauriel stopped her with a hand on her arm. "It is alright," she said, trying to calm her. "We will find out what is going on soon enough and then we will stop it. _I_ will stop it." She would have to question Nimwen more thoroughly on this matter at a later point in time. But for now she did not want to put too much strain on her friend's already fragile nerves.

Nimwen covered Tauriel`s hand with hers. "I am so glad you are here. But you must think me utterly useless."

Tauriel shook her head. "Not at all. Do not _ever_ think that." She glanced towards the door. "At least we know that they will come to get us eventually. From now on we must try our best to memorize every detail about this place, so that when an opportunity for escape opens up, we will be able to grasp it," she murmured, more to herself than to Nimwen.

Turning her head back around to look at her friend, she was suddenly overcome by an unexpected wave of dizziness and staggered slightly against Nimwen who caught her by her shoulders, surprised.

"Tauriel, what is it?" she asked, clearly alarmed, shifting her arms so that she would be able to catch Tauriel in case that she fell.

But Tauriel was already regaining her composure, straightening up while not letting go of her friend entirely, in case that the unpleasant spinning inside of her head would return. "I am fine," she said, but realized that her voice sounded small, weak. "It has not exactly been a comfortable journey. But do not worry, I will be alright in a moment."

Nimwen would have none of that though, and slid her arm around Tauriel's waist, guiding her a few steps across the room to where what Tauriel now realized had to be the silvery light of the moon illuminated an improvised bed consisting of some rags and blankets. "Sit down," Nimwen said, and had Tauriel not felt so faint she would have grinned at the way that the young healer had went from upset to being in complete control of the situation within a matter of seconds. Nimwen did not give herself enough credit for her very own kind of strength and power, she thought.

"Let me look at you," Nimwen spoke gently as she helped Tauriel lower herself onto the makeshift cot, taking her face between her soft, cool hands.

"I am fine," Tauriel said again despite the fact that her stomach was churning.

She tried to avert her gaze, but Nimwen forced her to look at her, searching her face intently with her eyes, stroking her brow with her fingertips while whispering softly in Sindarin. After a few seconds the healer gasped and dropped her hands. "No, this cannot be," she exclaimed, her face a mask of shock and surprise.

Now Tauriel _did_ avert her gaze. She did not know how her friend had done it, but of course she knew what Nimwen had seen. Lying back on the pile of fabric, she sighed softly and covered her midsection with her hands. "Apparently it can," she said, feeling hurt by Nimwen's reaction to discovering her current condition. It was not as if she had not expected something like this, but still it stung to be reminded once again of the disapproval with which her relationship with Kíli was met by most. "But don't worry yourself too much," she added, her voice less steady than she would have liked. "I have not felt anything in several days, so maybe it is already gone either way."

She looked away and reached up to angrily wipe away a tear that had spilled down her cheek at this admission, the thought of which had tormented her for a while now, but which she had tried to push away for as long as she could.

When she glanced at Nimwen kneeling before her, she saw that the shock written on her face had been joined by genuine sorrow. And a little bit of anger. "Why did you not say something sooner? Were you simply going to hide this from me?" she demanded, her tone back to that of a healer. "Lie back, relax."

Tauriel obeyed and hesitantly allowed Nimwen to remove her hands from her stomach to replace them with her own. Exerting a gentle pressure, the young healer moved her hands over her patient's body, pausing from time to time to whisper a few words barely audible to even Tauriel's keen ears.

When Nimwen removed her hands, Tauriel hardly dared to look at her friend. When she did, he heart nearly leaped into her throat upon seeing a small smile grace Nimwen's lips. "You are fine," Nimwen said softly. "As is your child."

Letting her head fall back onto the bed, Tauriel covered her eyes with her hand for a moment, trying to calm herself, but unable to stop a couple of half-choked sobs from escaping her lips, the sensation of relief in addition to the emotional turmoil she had already found herself in almost too much to bear. While she was still trying to pull herself together, she felt Nimwen lace her fingers through those of her free hand, squeezing gently.

"You should rest, my friend," the healer whispered. "Your body requires rest, as does your heart and your spirit. We can speak more later."

Tauriel wanted to protest that she should stay alert, that this was not a time for weakness, but already she could feel the now familiar lure of sleep beckoning to her, numbing both her limbs and lips. And so, holding onto the hand of a friend she had thought as good as lost to her and which she had found again in the most unlikely of places, she let herself drift off to sleep, her last thought being that she would only allow herself a few moments to gather some strength. And then she would be the brave warrior again and she would get them out of there.

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><p>It was dark at first and Kíli did not know where he was. For a moment he was not even sure if he had a body, but as his sight was slowly returned to him, so was his awareness of his physical being. He was standing in tall grass, the landscape around him illuminated by the soft orange glow of the setting sun. At the far side of the meadow he was standing on he saw a tree that was curious in shape and a range of sublime mountains beyond.<p>

His feet moved of their own accord and before he knew it, he was approaching the odd tree. Upon getting closer, he saw the reason why it looked so strange – its trunk had been split by lightning and half of its branches were hanging low, blackened, dying. The other side of the tree however seemed reluctant to give up so easily and branches were fanning out towards the sky, small green buds predicting that it would be in bloom soon.

What he was also able to make out as he came nearer were two figures sitting in the grass below the tree's blooming side. He stopped dead and stared, mesmerized, when he recognized the taller of the two figures as Tauriel, her red tresses glowing in the light of the fading sun. In her lap she held a small child, a couple of years in age at the most. The two of them seemed completely occupied with themselves, lost to the world around them. Kíli watched as Tauriel leaned down, whispering something into the child's ear before pressing a kiss to its temple, the gentle smile on her face as she did so causing a warm, fuzzy feeling to erupt in Kíli's heart.

The child laughed, a bright, wonderful sound, and leaped up to chase what looked to be a butterfly through the tall grass. Kíli awoke from his momentary paralysis and slowly walked over to where Tauriel was still sitting under the tree, the expression on her face as she watched the child tumble through the grass one of peace and contentment.

Kíli leaned against the trunk of the tree, wanting to speak, but feeling completely tongue-tied as he, too, watched the child. He saw now that it was a little girl and she truly was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen, her skin pale and perfect as if it had been made of moonlight, her hair dark and wavy, small, pointed ears sticking out between her locks. He could not make out the color of her eyes from the distance, but he knew that if he could, he would be looking into her mother's eyes.

As he swallowed against the lump forming in his throat at the image that presented itself before him, he felt Tauriel's fingers entwine themselves with his. He looked down at her and saw his own feelings mirrored in her gaze. "You were right," she said, smiling brightly. "She is beautiful."

Letting go of her hand, he sank down on his knees beside her and took her face between his palms, pressing his lips to hers in a kiss that spoke of the many things he found himself unable to say right now. "She is perfect," he whispered when he finally found his voice again, his forehead pressed against Tauriel's.

Shifting slightly he put an arm around his love's shoulder, holding her close while allowing himself a few glorious moments where he watched their little girl, this gift that he had not known his heart longed for, but that that was the most precious of all.

Soon, too soon, though, he felt that he could not put off what he knew he needed to do any longer, even if it broke his heart to tear this wonderful moment apart. For while he knew that this was more than just an ordinary dream of his, he also knew that it was not real and that, if he wanted it to become real, he could not allow himself to linger here much longer. Turning his head to look at Tauriel beside him, he pressed a gentle kiss to her temple to get her attention. "Tauriel," he whispered, "I need you to tell me where you are."

She turned her head and smiled at him, a small frown grazing her forehead. "What do you mean, _a'maelamin_? I am right here. With you."

She looked over to where their daughter was still playing in the meadow, settling back to watching her again. Kíli sighed inwardly – he hated having to be the one to do this. He put his hand to Tauriel's cheek to gently turn her head towards his, gazing at her intently. "This is just a dream, my love. Try to remember – what happened? Where are you?"

The frown on her perfect face deepened and, as Kíli watched realization settle in, the world around them slowly faded away. He wanted to get one final glance at the child, but resisted the temptation, steadily returning Tauriel's gaze instead. He had to find out something that might help him before she slipped away, lost to him once more.

A solitary tear rolled down Tauriel's cheek and somehow Kíli knew that if she looked away now to search for the dream that had just faded away, their connection would break. Steadying her face with both of his hands he asked again, "Where are you, Tauriel?"

She drew a shaky breath, obviously trying very hard to concentrate. "I do not know," she finally said. "It is dark and cold, maybe underground."

Kíli nodded. "What else? Anything, Tauriel, anything that might help me find you."

She shook her head. "I do not remember… there are orcs, many of them. And someone else, I think." Her eyes lit up suddenly. "But I have found a friend here."

Kíli frowned. "A friend? Who?"

Tauriel seemed about to respond, but suddenly the cry of a child echoed through the darkness around them. "_Nana_!"*

Kíli tried to hold onto Tauriel, but it was too late, she had turned around to locate where the cry had come from, searching the darkness in distress, and before Kíli knew it, his fingers where holding onto empty air, her soft skin no longer beneath his calloused hands. He dropped his hands into his lap resignedly, the loss of her warmth beneath his fingers a stab to his heart.

All he wanted to do now was to wake up, to use what meager information he had been able to obtain to make sure that his love would be in his arms again soon. But he was not so lucky and spent what seemed a small eternity cowering on a cold, hard floor, feeling small and helpless in the vast darkness enveloping him.

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><p>* Sindarin for MomMommy

_to be continued_


	11. Chapter 11

_Author's note: I'm still amazed by the amount of feedback that this story is getting - thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, favouriting... you all rock._

_This chapter constists mostly of Tauriel and Kíli bonding with their respective companions - I hope you enjoy it nevertheless. Some big things will happen in the next couple of chapters - prepare yourselves! ;)_

_Disclaimer: The Hobbit's not mine. _

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><p><span><strong>Chapter XI<strong>

"You are running a fever."

Kíli glared at Finn over the small campfire, considering to simply thank him for stating the obvious. But then he sighed and refrained from doing so – the boy had so far proved quite helpful and did not deserve his sarcasm. Either way, none of this was Finn's fault.

Even before awaking from his dream the previous night, Kíli had known that he had fallen ill, the all too familiar signs of a fever penetrating his dream world. Really, this was just about the last thing that he needed on top of losing Tauriel to a pack of orcs and no really useful clue where to search for her. He and Finn had been on the road for two days now, traveling south on the eastern bank of the river Bruinen, hoping to find a trail while at the same time staying out of sight as much as possible, lest they be picked up by either the Rivendell elves or the Rangers and hauled back to camp. Kíli, obviously, was a grown-up by both dwarven and human standards and might have been allowed to roam on his own, but of course he had to admit that whoever stumbled upon them would have every right in the world to take Finn back to his camp, his family. And whoever that might be, would also be entitled to punish him for allowing the boy to come with him - he could not dispute with that. But still he found himself unable to say that he regretted bringing Finn along – he might have gone mad with worry by now if there hadn't been someone to distract him, someone to look out for. Although, as it was, the boy seemed to be looking out for him rather than the other way around.

"You should let me look at your wounds," Finn said worriedly when the dwarf before him did not even bother to argue with him and instead seemed to sink back into himself. "Maybe one of them got infected, I think I have some ointment in my bag…"

"No." Kíli held up his hands. "No, that's not it." He coughed, bringing up a hand to his head that suddenly hurt quite a bit. "It's just a cold, Finn, don't worry. It will pass."

Finn did not look convinced. "You put too much strain on yourself before you were properly healed."

Kíli stared into the flames. "Aye, that's probably true. But this is not a matter of choice for me – and we mustn't let it slow us down. I know you mean well, but just let it rest."

The young Dúnedain looked at him intently. "You really would do anything to get her back. Even if it means putting yourself in danger."

Kíli glanced at him. "Of course." He had to suppress a smile at the open adoration with which the boy looked at him – like he was some kind of hero. It reminded Kíli of how he himself had looked at his uncle while growing up – but then of course Thorin had done great things in his life. Kíli, on the other hand, was not used to such admiration. He was the young one. The reckless one, the one who let his emotions get in the way of his actions. And right now, he certainly did not feel like a hero. "One day you'll meet someone for whom you would be prepared to walk to the end of the world, if need be," he said to Finn. "Then you'll understand."

Finn leaned back against the tree behind him. "I hope she'll be as beautiful as the lady Tauriel," he replied, staring into the flames.

Kíli grinned at the boy's dreamy expression. "I'm sure she will be," he said distractedly, while in his mind all he could see were Tauriel's eyes smiling up at him the way they had when he had seen her again in his dream. While the dream had temporarily lifted his gloomy spirits, in its aftermath his longing to be with her again had, if anything, become more acute. He _missed_ her with every fiber of his being.

If only – yes, if only he had been able to gather some more useful information from their nightly encounter. He knew, deep down, that, considering the history of their shared dreams, he had done a pretty good job at not allowing himself to become distracted by the allurements of his dream, but still he felt that he should have done better, that there had to have been something that would have given him a lead on Tauriel's whereabouts.

Somewhere cold, somewhere dark, somewhere underground… this could be anywhere. Kíli let his gaze travel into the distance where the moon was rising above the Misty Mountains that loomed threateningly over them. He and Finn had yet to find the trail they had been searching for, but suddenly his gut told him that this might be where they needed to go. Surely there were plenty of caverns, tunnels, underground lairs to be found at the foot of those sublime mountains, places where dark creatures such as orcs and the like would feel right at home. He just hoped that he wouldn't be confronted with another fat goblin king and his entourage when they finally located Tauriel – this time he might not be as lucky as he had been as a member of Thorin's company.

Staring into the night he tried to estimate the number of days that it would take them to reach the base of the mountains, but found that his fever was playing tricks on his senses once more, causing the lands below the small plateau they were camped on to stretch out indefinitely, making it seem impossible to ever cross them. He coughed again and shivered, pulling his cloak more firmly around his shoulders.

Suddenly a steaming cup appeared in his line of vision and he looked up to see Finn standing above him, offering the beverage to him. Huh. He had not even noticed that the boy had left his spot on the other side of the fire.

"Drink this," Finn said. "It is good for your lungs and will help to bring the fever down." When Kíli took the cup and eyed the steaming liquid a little suspiciously, the boy added, "Go ahead, it is not poisonous. My mother taught me to make it – I drank it myself on many occasions."

"Will it make me drowsy?" Kíli asked. Too many times in his life had he been tricked into drinking a sleeping draught by those looking after him and while there might sometimes have been good reason for this, he simply did not like being played for a fool.

Finn smiled. "And leave me all alone out here? It's not like I could carry you in case that we need to move fast."

Kíli raised an eyebrow at the cheeky tone of the young Dúnedain, who only a couple of days ago had blushed and stuttered when addressed by him, but took a careful sip from the brew nevertheless. It wasn't too bad. Leaning back, he cradled the cup between his palms and commanded himself to get a little bit of rest. In a couple of hours he would think about how to explain to Finn why he felt that they should stop their fruitless journey south and instead head east towards the mountains.

* * *

><p>"Erebor? You have seen it from the inside? <em>Lived<em> with the dwarves?" Nimwen asked, her eyes so big with wonder that they glowed in the pale light of the moon. Tauriel was not quite sure if she had slept through a whole day or whether it was still night outside and she had not asked, time having lost some of its meaning in the darkness.

Now she smiled at her friend. "Yes, I have. It was never our plan, but fate has had a way of disrupting both mine and Kíli's plans quite often in these last few months."

She and Nimwen were both lying on their sides on the makeshift bed, facing each other and close enough that they could each make out the features of the other in the sparse light. The time since she had woken up they had spent talking quietly, asking each other questions about the many months they had not seen one another, escaping, for a few precious moments, their dreary surroundings with the pictures that their narrations painted.

"What is it like, the dwarf kingdom? I couldn't imagine staying inside a mountain of all things. And then the dwarves… so… _coarse_." Nimwen shivered a little, but then stilled and looked at Tauriel a little apologetically. "I'm sorry, I did not mean to…"

Tauriel chuckled. "Don't worry yourself, I've heard people say things much worse. As for Erebor – I think you might be surprised if you ever saw it with your own eyes. I imagined it to be a dark place, cold, narrow, oppressing. But it is magnificent, really. Halls so high that you can barely see the ceiling, terraces that make you feel so close to the stars…"

She fell silent, thinking back to the security and warmth she had found in Kíli's and her shared quarters, experiencing something very close to homesickness. Never in her life had she given much importance to material things, least of all assigned them any emotional value, but now she felt a dull pain in her chest as she thought back to their room, not so much because of what it was, but because of for what it stood. A place to call home.

Nimwen's voice pulled her back to the present. "And the dwarves?"

She felt a smile tug on the corners of her mouth. "Well, they _are_ coarse. And loud, and unruly, and stubborn. But they are also honest, and kind, and loyal. And they love their family above everything else."

Nimwen gave a small smile of her own. "It sounds as if you were happy there."

Tauriel sighed. "Well, it is not as if times there were always easy. There were always some who wanted me far, far away from that mountain. And from Kíli in particular. But all things considered, yes. I was happy there, for a while. I felt… secure. Calm."

Nimwen propped her head up on her elbow. "That explains a lot, I suppose."

Tauriel frowned at her friend in genuine confusion. "What do you mean?"

The young healer looked at her intently. "Look inside yourself – you know what I speak of," she spoke, her voice gentle. "We do not conceive children when they are not wanted. I do not believe that even something as unusual as a union between one of our own kind and a dwarf would alter this circumstance."

Tauriel stared at her friend in shock for a long moment, her breath stuck in her throat, but then sighed, lowering her gaze. "You must think me such a fool," she said after a while. "I did not realize what I was doing before it was too late…"

Nimwen reached across the small distance dividing them and covered Tauriel's hand with hers. "There is no need to be ashamed for wanting a family, a little one to love and cherish."

Grateful for her friend's kind words, Tauriel squeezed her hand. "And yet I should have known better," she said sadly. "Should have known that this illusion of safety could not last. But I allowed myself to get carried away, to get too comfortable, and before I even knew I was wishing for something like this, it had already happened."

"And now you must deal with the consequences. As I am sure you will – you will do fine, Tauriel."

Tauriel pressed her lips together. "Thank you, my friend." She looked down, still a little hurt by her friend's initial reaction of shock to her little secret, even though she knew that she could not really have expected anything else and even though Nimwen would probably be the last person to condemn her. "I know that this is a lot to take in and I do not expect sympathy from anyone."

Nimwen tugged at her hand to make her look at her again. "But you _do_ have my sympathy and also my support. I will help you in any way that I can." Her face darkened. "If we ever get out of here, that is."

Tauriel's thoughts went to Kíli and the dream she had had while she had been resting – he was looking for her, she knew that now. Not that she had expected anything else from him. If their roles were reversed she would be out searching for him day and night and in her dream it had seemed as if that was exactly what he was doing. She wondered, briefly, if he was alone in his quest or if he, too, had a friend at his side.

Either way, she would hope that he would find them soon and try to make use of the time until that happened to gather as much information about her surroundings as possible and maybe find a possibility for escape on her own. This would, however, be really difficult as long as she was still locked away with Nimwen in their cold, dark prison. There was not much to learn about her capturers from in here.

While Tauriel let her thoughts wander, her friend had sat up on their cot and turned to the side, feeling around for something in the dark. When she turned back around, she held a metal bowl in her hands that contained two small pieces of stale bread and a couple mouthful of porridge made with unidentifiable ingredients. Tauriel wrinkled her nose as the smell entered her nostrils.

"This was left here while you slept," the young healer said. "You should eat."

Tauriel sat up on the mattress. The smell of the food was not very appetizing to her, but she knew that she had to eat – too long it had been since her last meager meal. "What about you? Have you already eaten yours?" she asked while she still eyed the bowl suspiciously.

Nimwen shook her head. "No. This is all that there is. Eat my share as well as yours."

"No," Tauriel protested. "I cannot do that."

"You must," Nimwen urged her. "Please, Tauriel. There is little as it is and you cannot hide from me that you are still very weak."

Tauriel made to reply, but the slight tremor in her muscles as well as the sudden lightheadedness that even such light activity as sitting up caused, made her rethink her answer. "Alright," she said reluctantly. "I will do as you say. But only this once – you too need your strength for when we find an opportunity to fight back."

"Of course," Nimwen replied gently as she handed Tauriel the food. From her tone Tauriel could however tell that this would not be the last time that her friend would offer to put her needs and her well-being before her own. She very much hoped that their time here would be limited and that there would not be too many more occasions on which she would have to have this argument with Nimwen.

* * *

><p>During the first few hours of the night, Kíli had been freezing under his coat, now, in the wee hours of the morning, he was soaking wet. He supposed that this was a good sign though and that his fever had broken before giving him too much trouble. He still felt like rubbish, but, glancing over at Finn who had curled up under a blanket after taking watch for most of the night and was now sleeping peacefully, he admitted grudgingly that it had been good that he had listened to the boy when he had offered him medicine earlier.<p>

For his age the lad certainly had a good knowledge of the healing properties of plants and herbs, probably something his mother had passed onto him. But, as most young men, he would in all likelihood not rejoice in being complimented on this. It was adventure he sought, an opportunity to prove himself with sword and bow. While Kíli could relate to this better than Finn might have guessed, he had to suppress a sigh at the thought that the boy's innocence might be spoiled by whatever awaited them at the end of their journey.

Sitting up, Kíli slowly peeled out of the various layers of fabric he had covered himself with during the night. Wiping his sleeve across his damp brow, he grimaced at the sticky feeling that his fever had left behind on his skin. Determined to allow Finn a little more rest before he woke him up, he rose and quietly made his way over to where they had left their provisions. Going through their belongings he realized with some concern that they were almost out of food. They would need to hunt very soon, but he did not think that his shoulder would permit him to use a bow just yet and he did not want to spend too much valuable time giving Finn archery lessons. Valuable time where he could be searching for Tauriel. He made a note to give some more thought to this problem later on – now he was not looking for food either way.

From a larger canteen he poured some water into a shallow bowl, placed it on the ground before him and repeatedly dipped his hands into the water, leaning forward to rinse both sweat and grime off his face and neck. The cool water felt delicious against his still slightly too warm skin and for a moment he was taken back to that day before he and Tauriel had met Finn's father, the day when Tauriel had insisted on going for a little swim together with him. His heart grew heavy when he remembered the feeling of her skin beneath his palm where it had been pressed against her stomach and the taste of her on his lips when he had kissed tiny droplets of water off her body, the beauty of this moment still so very fresh in his memory.

Sinking back on his heels, Kíli took a couple of calming breaths against the now all too familiar feeling of despair that would sometimes spread in his chest, the one that would demand for him to go running into the night and scream Tauriel's name into the all-absorbing darkness until he lost his voice and could scream no more. He needed to remain level-headed for now. He owed this to her. And to himself. And now to Finn, too.

After briefly glancing back at the boy who was still sound asleep, Kíli looked out over the plains below. Shapes and contours were just becoming recognizable in the grayish light of approaching dawn and he took another deep breath of the cool morning air – that promptly got stuck in his throat when his eyes caught upon a strangely familiar shape a little ways off in the distance. A tree, one side crooked, its branches drooping so low that they brushed the ground below, the other side stretching its branches up into the sky that was still almost dark…

Kíli's heart was beating wildly in his chest. He had seen this tree before – and he knew just where. Scrambling to his feet, he stumbled over to where Finn lay and grabbed him by his shoulder.

"Finn, wake up, hurry."

The boy's eyes shot open and he sat up, whipping his head around. "What, what is it? Are we under attack?"

"No, no, we're not," Kíli replied, trying to keep his tone at least moderately patient. "But I have found something. Grab your things, quickly."

He left no room for questions and hastily bundled up his own belongings, stuffing them in random bags, strapping everything together. Glancing over his shoulder he saw with some surprise and great relief that Finn was following his order without hesitation, his face concentrated as he got ready in a haste.

When Finn was still in the middle of strapping his last bag to his shoulder, Kíli was already beginning his decent off the rocky edges of their little plateau, too impatient to look for a more comfortable path that would take them to the lands below. Ignoring both the pain in his shoulder and the throbbing in his head, he climbed vigorously and soon reached level ground, turning around briefly to ensure that Finn was doing alright, before setting out into the direction of the tree in a sprint.

"Wait, what is going on?" he heard Finn call out behind him.

"You'll see!" Kíli shouted back over his shoulder. He had no idea what they were going to find once they reached that tree, but he'd had enough experience with dreams involving Tauriel to know that this could not be a mere coincidence.

His lungs felt as if they were going to explode when he drew in on the tree after running for another few minutes, but he did not pause to catch his breath and immediately started scanning the ground for any tracks or evidence that Tauriel had been here. Dropping to his knees beside the remains of a campfire he touched his fingers to its ashes. They were cold but did not seem to be too old, a couple of days at the most. This assumption of his was supported by the fact that the grass around the fire pit had been trampled flat by several pairs of feet.

"Someone made camp here recently," he called out to Finn, who was circling the tree a couple of feet away from him.

Suddenly the young Dúnedain stopped and stared at something on the ground before nudging it with the tip of his boot. "Orcs," he called back. "I'm quite certain."

"How do you know?" Kíli asked, getting up to walk over to Finn.

"Because there's a dead one lying in the grass over here," Finn replied, pointing at the body of an orc stretched out on the ground before him.

Kíli came to stand next to the boy. "I suppose that's rather straightforward then." He squatted down next to the creature and looked at it more closely.

"Do you think that Tauriel might have killed it?" Finn asked.

"It's possible," Kíli answered a little hesitantly. The edges of the wound in the orc's chest were ragged, as if a rather blunt blade had been plunged into its body by sheer force. "But I think it more likely that this is the work of one of the other orcs." When Finn looked a little unconvinced, he added, "Lesson number one about orcs – they are just as likely to turn on each other as on anyone else."

Sitting back on his heels he thoughtfully looked at the tree and squinted when his eyes caught upon something on the ground very close to it. Walking over, he picked up a crumpled, dirty rag.

Finn watched him turn it about in his fingers. "It might have been used as a gag," he said. He pointed at the tree. "And look, the bark is slightly rubbed off at the bottom – as if someone tried to rid themselves of ropes binding their hands behind their back."

Kíli glanced at the boy in appreciation. Clearly he had had a lesson or two in tracking already. "You are right…". So his gut had been right when it had told him to head towards the mountains the previous evening. He looked up and caught Finn's excited gaze. "I think we have found our trail after all."

_to be continued..._


End file.
